Aji y pollo

Peruvian food seems to be underrepresented (and possibly misrepresented) online. Based on what I had in Miami, the online recipes seem to have way too much going on. Today I searched for the green sauce and found a range of recipes, which again didn't quite seem like what I had. I'm not claiming to be an expert after having one lunch, but I will be contacting my friend so I can get some insight into authenticity (her father is Peruvian).


Since the soup was such a big hit, I went with roasted chicken (again recipes varied widely so I made up my own thing). I scored drumsticks then added garlic, paprika, cumin, olive oil, vinegar, lime - I couldn't resist adding a bit of my standard seasonings as well...I put that in the marinator and let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours. For the green sauce I blended jalapeno, scallion, cilantro, lime, garlic, olive oil, salt - in the back of my mind I was thinking of hara masala and green seasoning and wondering if you can find a variant of this condiment around the world.

I served the soup from yesterday with salad (I transformed a traditional garden salad into Peruvian fare by adding corn and I made a guava vinaigrette - olive oil, guava nectar, vinegar, seasonings) and some Portuguese bread. Then I brought out the chicken (convection roasted) which I topped with sauteed onions and peppers. We ate the aji with everything (I wish I had added another pepper).  We thoroughly enjoyed this vibrant meal...now we just need to confirm the authenticity.