Colombian · meal

Chicken ajiaco

Name: Chicken ajiaco
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Colombian
Ingredients: 1 lb Chicken breast; 2 tbsp Guascas; 3 cups of florets Cauliflower; 2 cups Squash; 2 stalks Scallions; 4 cups Chicken broth; 2 cloves Garlic; 2 tbsp Heavy cream; 1 tbsp Capers; 1 whole Avocado; 1 handful Cilantro; Salt and pepper (to taste)

Bogotá's ajiaco worked out without potato: the cauliflower falls apart against the spoon and thickens the broth the way papa criolla used to, and the squash puts in the yellow. The guascas are what make it ajiaco and not chicken soup.

Serves

2 people

Amount

2 servings

Time

40 min

Steps

Why this one and not another

Forty minutes of pot in an order that takes no rearranging: the chicken comes out when the vegetables go in, and the guascas go in three minutes before you kill the heat. It's one of the two dishes in this book that use guascas, and the one that justifies buying the little bag: two tablespoons per pot, and what's left over covers the other one.

Where it comes from

Ajiaco is from Bogotá and not from all of Colombia: on the coast nobody eats it, and what gets sold under that name outside the country is usually chicken soup with potato. What makes it ajiaco is the guascas —without them it's exactly that, chicken soup— and what makes it bogotano is three different potatoes: papa criolla, yellow and small, which falls apart and thickens, and two others that stay in chunks. None of the three is left here: cauliflower crushed against the wall of the pot does the thickening and the squash puts in the yellow the papa criolla gave. The cream and the capers do stay, and they go to the table and not into the pot, which is how they're served down there.

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

Never the same board for raw meat and for what goes in the juicer. If you only have one, vegetables first and meat after. And don't wash the chicken: it splatters.

1Ingredients and how to prep them

Ingredient	Amount	How to prep it
Chicken breast	1 lb	Whole, not cut up. It cooks inside the broth and gets shredded.
Guascas	2 tbsp	Dried, in a little bag. Without them this is chicken soup, not ajiaco.
Cauliflower	3 cups of florets	Small florets. Half of it is going to fall apart on purpose: that's what thickens.
Squash	2 cups	In cubes. Here it stands in for papa criolla: it gives the yellow and it falls apart.
Scallions	2 stalks	Finely chopped. If you can't find them, thick scallions or half a white onion.
Chicken broth	4 cups	—
Garlic	2 cloves	—
Heavy cream	2 tbsp	For the table, not for the pot.
Capers	1 tbsp	Drained and rinsed. Also for the table.
Avocado	1 whole	Sliced, as you serve.
Cilantro	1 handful	—
Salt and pepper	to taste	—

Chicken breast1 lb
Whole, not cut up. It cooks inside the broth and gets shredded.
Guascas2 tbsp
Dried, in a little bag. Without them this is chicken soup, not ajiaco.
Cauliflower3 cups of florets
Small florets. Half of it is going to fall apart on purpose: that's what thickens.
Squash2 cups
In cubes. Here it stands in for papa criolla: it gives the yellow and it falls apart.
Scallions2 stalks
Finely chopped. If you can't find them, thick scallions or half a white onion.
Chicken broth4 cups
—
Garlic2 cloves
—
Heavy cream2 tbsp
For the table, not for the pot.
Capers1 tbsp
Drained and rinsed. Also for the table.
Avocado1 whole
Sliced, as you serve.
Cilantro1 handful
—
Salt and pepperto taste
—

2Steps

In this order. The box on each step is the specific pitfall: what goes wrong there and why.

1
Start the broth with the chicken cold
4 min
Whole breast, cold broth, garlic and half the green onion in the pot. Bring the heat up until it barely shivers.
Heads up
From cold and with no rolling boil. At a rolling boil the breast tightens up in two minutes and afterward it won't shred: it breaks into dry chunks that float.
2
Skim the foam before it breaks up
3 min
As soon as the broth starts to move a gray foam rises. Take it off with a spoon and throw it out.
Heads up
Take it off, don't stir it back in. If you mix it in the broth turns cloudy and picks up that liver taste, and there's no way to clear it afterward.
3
Cauliflower and squash into the broth
14 min
The florets and the squash cubes, covered, at a gentle simmer. Toward the end crush part of the cauliflower against the wall of the pot.
Heads up
The whole dish is right here: half the cauliflower has to fall apart. If you leave it whole, the broth stays clear as water and this turns into soup with chicken in it. Thick is when the spoon leaves a trench that takes its time closing.
4
Pull the chicken out and shred it
6 min
Take it out the moment it's done, not at the end. Shred it with two forks while it's still too hot to hold.
Heads up
Pull it when the vegetables go in, not when they finish: twenty more minutes in the pot leave it stringy and dry. And shred it hot, when it opens into long strands; cold it breaks into short pieces.
5
The guascas, three minutes and done
4 min
Rub them between your hands over the pot, put the lid on and kill the heat at three minutes.
Heads up
Guascas get very little boiling. Half an hour in there and they lose exactly the smell that makes them guascas: what's left is boiled grass. Three minutes with the lid on and you smell the ajiaco from the front door.
6
Put the chicken back and build the bowls
5 min
The shredded chicken into the pot, the cilantro over the top. The cream, the capers and the avocado on the table.
Heads up
The cream and the capers do not go into the pot. Boiled, the cream splits into curds; boiled, the capers salt the entire pot and there's no rescuing it. Everyone spoons their own into their bowl.

3If something goes wrong

What happens	Why	What to do
The broth came out clear and thin	The cauliflower went to the table whole and nobody crushed it.	Mash a cup of cauliflower against the wall of the pot and give it five more minutes. What thickens this ajiaco is the vegetable falling apart, not flour.
It doesn't taste like ajiaco	Old guascas, too few, or boiled half an hour.	Two tablespoons rubbed between your hands and only three minutes in the pot, with the lid on.
The chicken came out in dry chunks	It boiled hard, or it stayed in until the end.	A shivering simmer, and out of the pot the moment it's done. It goes back into the broth as you serve.

The broth came out clear and thin
Why: The cauliflower went to the table whole and nobody crushed it.
What to do: Mash a cup of cauliflower against the wall of the pot and give it five more minutes. What thickens this ajiaco is the vegetable falling apart, not flour.
It doesn't taste like ajiaco
Why: Old guascas, too few, or boiled half an hour.
What to do: Two tablespoons rubbed between your hands and only three minutes in the pot, with the lid on.
The chicken came out in dry chunks
Why: It boiled hard, or it stayed in until the end.
What to do: A shivering simmer, and out of the pot the moment it's done. It goes back into the broth as you serve.

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

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Why this one and not another

Where it comes from

▲Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen

1Ingredients and how to prep them

2Steps

Start the broth with the chicken cold

Skim the foam before it breaks up

Cauliflower and squash into the broth

Pull the chicken out and shred it

The guascas, three minutes and done

Put the chicken back and build the bowls

3If something goes wrong

This recipe is one of the meals in the plan

Raw chicken and raw vegetables, the same kitchen