Kapchi de habas

Delicious, vegetarian dish of beans and potatoes, simmered in a spicy sauce of chili, egg, milk, and onion, and served with rice. This afternoon, for my final cooking lesson with Amigos, our amazing chef Ricardo (of tiradito de pescado and causa rellena fame) showed us how to cook up some kapchi de habas, another spicy dish local to the Cusco area. A great final addition to my Andean cooking repertoire, and another one that I'll have to make again sometime!

Ricardo simmering the kapchi.

Ingredients

• 2 small ajis amarillos ("yellow chilis")
• 2 Spanish onions
• ½ cup milk
• 150g habas (large Peruvian green snowpeas / beans)
• 2 eggs
• 250g potatoes
• 2 stalks huacatay (Peruvian herb)
• 1 cup white rice
• 200g soft white cheese
• Salt and pepper

Usually it takes a while to shell all those habas.

Instructions

1. Cut the chilis in half, and take out and dispose of the seeds.
2. Boil the chilis until soft.
3. Fry the rice with a tspn of vegetable oil (and a pinch of salt) for a few minutes. Then add boiling water, and boil until cooked.
4. Peel and finely chop the onions, peel and shell the beans, and peel and finely chop the potatoes.
5. Drain the rice, and cook on low without water for a few mins.
6. Take the chilis off, and pull the skin off them (as with previous weeks, this isn't so easy — use your fingernails!). Then blend the chilis in a blender, with some oil.
7. Fry the onions with some oil. After a few mins, add the chili paste and stir. Then add the chopped potatoes and the huacatay stalks (the whole stalks, unchopped), and stir more.
8. Add lots of hot water (and some salt) to the frypan, and cover and simmer until the potatoes are soft and cooked.
9. Pull the cheese apart into little pieces.
10. After about 10 mins of simmering, add the beans to the frypan, and continue simmering.
11. Add the milk and the pieces of cheese to the frypan, and stir.
12. Take the frypan off, crack the eggs into the mix, and stir.
13. Serve the rice and the kapchi (i.e. the mix of everything else) on a plate, and garnish with huacatay.
14. Like they don't say in Peru: dig in! :P

Mmmm… todo listo… ¡me gusta mucho esta comida!