Ajiaco
Bogotá's Andean chicken soup: three different potato varieties cooked with chicken and the herb guascas. Served with avocado, capers, cream and corn.
Overview
Chicken poaches with onion, garlic and herbs into a clean, golden broth. The first potato (sabanera, or floury maris piper) drops in to start; the small yellow papa criolla follows to break down and thicken; pastusa or red potatoes go in last to hold shape. Cobs of sweet corn cook in the same pot. Guascas, the dish's signature herb, adds at the very end. Each bowl tops with shredded chicken, avocado, capers and a generous spoon of cream; rice on the side.
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 ½ kg chicken pieces (bone-in thighs and drumsticks)
- 1 onion (large, quartered)
- 6 garlic cloves (smashed)
- 4 spring onions (whole, smashed)
- 1 small bunch coriander stems (tied with string)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 ½ litres water
Potatoes and corn
- 600 g sabanera (or maris piper potatoes, peeled, sliced 1 cm)
- 600 g papa criolla (peeled, halved if large; or substitute baby Yukon golds)
- 600 g pastusa (or red-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 3 cm chunks)
- 3 ears sweet corn (cut into 4 cm rounds)
To finish
- 4 tablespoons dried guascas (the herb that defines the dish; sold at Latin grocers)
- A small bunch coriander (chopped)
To serve
- 2 ripe avocados (sliced)
- 4 tablespoons capers (rinsed)
- 200 ml double cream (or crème fraîche)
- 1 lime (cut into wedges)
- Cooked white rice
Method
Stage 1 - Poach the chicken
- Place the chicken in a large pot with the onion, garlic, spring onions, coriander stems, bay, peppercorns, cumin, salt and water.
- Bring to the boil; skim the foam.
- Reduce to a steady simmer; cook 25-30 minutes until the chicken is tender.
- Lift the chicken onto a plate; cool slightly. Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pot.
Stage 2 - Shred the chicken
- Pull the meat from the bones into shreds; discard skin and bones. Cover and reserve.
Stage 3 - First potato
- Bring the strained broth back to a simmer.
- Add the sabanera potatoes; cook 15 minutes.
Stage 4 - Papa criolla
- Add the papa criolla; cook 20 minutes, mashing some of them against the side of the pot to release starch (this is what gives ajiaco its characteristic body).
Stage 5 - Pastusa and corn
- Add the pastusa potatoes and the corn rounds.
- Cook 15 minutes more until everything is tender and the broth has thickened.
Stage 6 - Finish
- Stir in the guascas and chopped coriander.
- Return the shredded chicken; warm through 2 minutes.
- Taste; adjust salt.
Stage 7 - Serve
- Ladle into wide bowls - make sure each bowl gets a wedge of corn on the cob.
- Top each with avocado slices.
- Bring capers, cream, lime and rice to the table; each diner garnishes their own.
Notes
- Three potatoes is the dish: Substituting just one type gives a different soup. Floury + waxy + small yellow gives the layered texture that defines ajiaco.
- Guascas: Sold dried at Latin/Colombian grocers. Without it, this is a chicken-potato soup, not ajiaco. No real substitute.
- Add cream and capers at the table: Stirring them into the pot mutes them. Each diner adjusts to taste.
Storage
- Keeps 4 days refrigerated; the broth thickens further. Reheat gently with a splash of water.
- Freezes 3 months without the cream / capers / avocado.
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