Recipes

Peruvian Causas

Cuisine: Peruvian

Type: Main Course

Serves: 8-10

Source:	The Fire of Peru cookbook
Attributes:	Book
Comments:	We had our first experience with Peruvian food in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. That is where we first had this dish. We recently watched a cooking competition that had two Peruvian women competing, and they made this dish and others that we will feature. The cookbook is out of print, and hard to find, but is one of the highest rated for Peruvian food. There are many variations, and you can find recipes and techniques online.
Serving Suggestions:	This amount makes a main course for 8-10 people. But, you can easily cut back the amount and serve it as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

There are many variations on the recipe for Causas. This is Causa of Lima, a popular specialty.

1 pound fresh lump crabmeat (about 2 generous cups), picked over, or you can use shredded chicken
1/3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably Japanese
2 large ripe avocados, peeled
1 or 2 limes
Kosher salt
1 recipe causa base, follows
1 pint cherry or other small tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
Finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

The photo accompanying this recipe is from a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, and they placed some quick fried zested carrot on top, so we've done that as well on ours.

Causa base:

3-1/2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed and peeled
3 tbs. fresh lime juice
3 tbs. aji amarillo paste, or to taste*
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs. kosher salt, or to taste

* Aji amarillo paste can be found in some ethnic markets or ordered online. Aji amarillo (yellow pepper) is unique to Peru and is a staple in their cuisine.

Instructions:

Make the causa base first:

1. Halve the potatoes, if they are small, or roughly chop larger potatoes into 1-1/2 inch chunks. Place in a large pot and cover them with water by an inch, bring to a low boil over high heat. Boil the potatoes until very tender when pierced with a knife, 20 to 25 minutes, depending on their size. Drain the potatoes.

2. While the potatoes are still very warm, press them through a ricer or food mill into a large bowl. Mix in the lime juice and aji amarillo paste, and use the palms of your hands to knead the potatoes for a minute or two. Turn the potatoes out onto a work surface. (Or, with a large bowl, you can do the next step in the bowl.)

3. Make a well in the center of the potatoes, pour the olive oil in the center, and sprinkle with salt on top. Keep kneading the potatoes with the palms of your hands, like pasta dough, for about 5 minutes. This is an important step in the technique of making causas. Knead until the potatoes become amost silky. Taste and add a little more aji amarillo paste or salt, if you'd like. The potatoes should be nicely salted.

4. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to two days.

To make the causas:

5. In a medium bowl, gently toss together the crab meat with just enough mayonnaise to lightly moisten the meat. /try not to break up the lumps of crab. In another bowl, use a fork to roughly mash the avocados. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and season with a pinch of salt, mix well and add more lime juice to taste.

6. We like to serve our causas as individual servings assembled in a ring mold. And, we like to have two layers of the potato, see the photo. So, put about a 3/4-inch layer of potato base in a ring mold for each serving. Top that with a layer of the avocado, and top that with a layer of the crab meat. The top layer is another layer of the potato base. At this point the causas can be covered and refrigerated until ready to serve.

7. To serve, unmold the causas as top with tomatoes and cilantro, and/or other toppings of your choice.

Related recipes:

None