Aji de Gallina

Aji de gallina, whose name translates roughly as hen's chili, is a Peruvian chicken stew built on a sofrito of red onion, garlic and aji amarillo, the country's yellow chili pepper, combined with shredded poached chicken and stock and thickened with bread soaked in milk, parmesan cheese and ground nuts such as pecans or walnuts; it is usually served with boiled potatoes, white rice, black olives and hard-boiled egg. The dish is generally traced to the sixteenth century, evolving out of manjar blanco, a medieval Spanish preparation of ground almonds, milk, sugar and chicken or fish that Moorish cooking had introduced to Spain; in Europe that dish eventually became a dessert, but in colonial Peru cooks combined it with the region's native chili peppers to turn it into a savory main course. Oral tradition also credits French aristocratic chefs who fled the French Revolution and found work in the Viceroyalty of Peru with developing the dish from leftover chicken and potatoes, and modern versions of aji de gallina are sometimes made with turkey or canned tuna instead of chicken.