Aji de Gallina
Ingredients
2-3 cups shredded chicken
Half a sleeve of ritz crackers
¼ C walnuts
1 cup evaporated milk
¼ - ⅓ C grated parmesan or a little more, to taste
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
3 T aji amarillo chili paste or more to taste* (see notes)
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1-2 T kosher salt
1-2 t white pepper
½-1 cup chicken stock
Chicken Stock
1 carcass
2 carrots washed (not peeled) and roughly chopped
1 celery bulb and 3-4 stalks roughly chopped
1 onion quartered
Instructions
Bake your rotisserie chicken (here are a couple good recipes), and separate as much meat from the bones as possible.
For the Stock:
Dump the de-meated chicken carcass into a pot with everything else, cover with water, and simmer over a medium-low boil for at least an hour.
Strain.
For the Sauce:
Soak the ritz crackers and walnuts in the milk. Let sit for at least 15 minutes.
Dice the onion and garlic.
Put the soaked crackers, walnuts and parmesan in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Bring the vegetable oil to high heat in a pan. Add onions. Cook until lightly browned. If onions let out a lot of water, spread evenly on the pan and let them sit until water evaporates and they start to brown. The higher the heater the faster the water will boil off, but also the faster they’ll burn once it does. Once it starts to color, give a stir every minute or two (let them sit after you stir!) to ensure even browning.
Then add the garlic and cook a minute or two more until fragrant.
Then add aji amarillo and turmeric and cook a minute more, stirring to combine and color all of the oil and veggies with the paste.
Add to the blender with previous paste and process until smooth.
Return sauce to the pan with ½ C of stock.
Bring to a low simmer, mixing to combine. Add stock until the sauce is slightly runnier than the desired texture.
Salt to taste.
Add the chicken, stir, and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until chicken is heated through.
Serve with chopped walnuts, black olives, and a hard boiled egg.