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Salsa Huancaina is a delicious and extremely versatile spicy cheese sauce with an inimitable Peruvian flavor

Salsa Huancaina – Huancaina Sauce

A versatile, spicy Peruvian cheese sauce

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Peruvians love salsas, sauces and dips. They are a must on every dining table and complement, enhance or vary the unique flavors of local dishes. One of the most popular sauces in Peru that reflect the soul of the Peruvian cuisine is Salsa Huancaina.

Salsa Huancaina is a creamy, spicy, but still pleasant sauce with an inimitable Peruvian flavor that is prepared in no time with simple Peruvian ingredients such as aji amarillo, the Peruvian yellow chili pepper with its distinctive flavor, queso fresco, a fresh Peruvian white cheese, and milk.

Even though the Huancaina sauce gained popularity being the star of Peru’s famous starter Papas a la Huancaina (potatoes covered with Huancaina sauce), the scrumptious salsa is very versatile and goes extremely well with many other flavors.

While Salsa Huancaina is absolutely delicious as a dip for fries, tequeños (fried Peruvian cheese sticks), fried yucca sticks, corn on the cob, veggies and many other little goodies, it is heavenly with barbecued meat and when served as Spaghetti a la Huancaina or Risotto a la Huancaina. Comfort food with a Peruvian touch at its best.

Preparing Salsa Huancaina at home isn’t a big deal and done in 5 to 10 minutes. But if you are aiming for the real Peruvian flavor, there is no way around using aji amarillo. The perfect combination of its sweet fruitiness and heat gives the sauce its characteristic color and taste.

Usually you can find aji amarillo in Latin American food stores in numerous cities around the globe or online – if not fresh, then surely as paste, or whole frozen or canned, or as last resort grounded. While finding aji amarillo outside Peru might be challenging, it’s worth the effort.

Find below my quick and easy recipe for Salsa Huancaina.

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Huancaina sauce is prepared using simple Peruvian ingredients such as fresh white cheese, onions, milk and aji amarillo, a Peruvian yellow chili pepper with a unique flavor
To prepare Salsa Huancaina just sauté the aji amarillo, the onions and garlic ...
... then blend adding milk, cheese, egg and some saltine crackers.
And ready is the typical Huancaina sauce that goes well with many flavors and dishes

Eva's Recipe for traditional Peruvian Huancaina Sauce

Food

Ingredients:

2 - 3 aji amarillo – fresh, frozen or canned or 120 ml (½ cup) aji amarillo paste
1/2 small onion
1 clove of garlic
3 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
200 - 250 ml evaporated milk (more or less 1 cup)
250 g queso fresco - you can substitute with fresh white cheese or even feta (9 oz.)
1 hardboiled egg
2 - 4 saltine crackers

Preparation:

  1. Cut queso fesco (or white farmer’s cheese / feta) into cubes and set aside.
  2. Remove seeds from the aji amarillo and chop into small pieces. Dice onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté aji amarillo (or paste), onion and garlic over medium heat until soft. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
  3. Transfer the mixture including the oil to a blender or food processor, add around 100 ml (about ½ cup) of evaporated milk and blend. Then add the cheese, the hardboiled egg and 2 saltine crackers. Blend. While blending slowly add more milk until your Huancaina sauce is smooth and fairly thick. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Add more saltine crackers if your Huancaina sauce got to thin, or a little bit more milk if it's too thick.
  5. Enjoy!
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