Shopping…Cooking…Eating: Causa

Panchita's Causa
Panchita's Causa

Last year when Rebecca (my daughter) and I visited Lima, I had the opportunity to have Causa a la Limeña at Panchita in Miraflores (a highly recommended restaurant!). This is yet another Peruvian dish that uses potatoes, but it is served cold. 

 

When I first bit into the dish, my face lit up in surprise at how good it was. But that was the only time I had causa until last week. I don’t know why—it is a very easy dish to make. 

At the mercado here in Calca, I got my ingredients:

  • Yellow potatoes: If you want potatoes here, you don’t buy them from a vegetable vendor. You look for the ladies sitting behind sacks full of different kinds of potatoes. I asked for a half kilo of “papas amarillos para haciendo causa”  (yellow potatoes for making causa). She knew exactly what I wanted.
  • From my casera, I got spices like aji amarillo (yellow chile), ginger, ajo (garlic), mayonnaise, and aceitunas(olives)
Alex, the Chicken Vendor
Just tell Alex which parts you need and he'll package them up for you.
  • From the chicken vendor, I got a nice large chicken breast (The chicken is very fresh and safe to buy in this market and you can pick out the individual pieces that you want—you don’t have to depend on whatever packaging the butcher puts out to sell.)
  • From the vegetable seller, I got a red pepper and onions.
  • From the women selling fresh herbs, I bought a huge bunch of perejil (parsley)
  • On the way home, I stopped by a neighborhood tienda and bought eggs.

You can read much more about the traditional market in Calca in this blog post: “Shopping…Cooking…Eating: Calca’s Traditional Market”

Kitchen at Casa Wilkamayo
My lovely kitchen at Casa Wilkamayo

In my lovely kitchen at home, I boiled the chicken breast with onions (I would later use the broth for soup.), and made up some chicken salad with olives, and parsley. But you could also make your favorite chicken salad recipe, OR some people use tuna salad.

I also blended up a nice sauce by putting aji amarillo, garlic, ginger, and olive oil in the blender. (This is a great sauce to add to chicken or vegetable soup right at the end of cooking!) 

Mabel spreading potatoes
Mabel spread the potatoes into a baking dish. The aji sauce is in the little bowl in front.

At the same time, I boiled the peeled potatoes until they were pretty soft. Once they were drained, I took the ingredients upstairs to Mabel’s (my host’s) lovely kitchen and together we finished the dish. The potatoes were so soft, they almost mashed themselves—no need for a mixer.  Mabel mixed in some of the aji sauce and salt into the potatoes and put half of them into a baking dish.

Next, we layered the chicken salad along with some slices of fresh red pepper, and then the rest of the potatoes. 

Partly finished Causa

Now, causa has to look pretty. So, for the last garnishing layer, I added a drizzle of mayonnaise, sliced avocado (The avocados here are amazingly delicious!), sliced hard-boiled eggs, red pepper, and ground black pepper. The dish needs to set in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Finished Causa

Serve with soup or salad. It makes a nice appetizer or light summer luncheon meal.

You can be very creative with this dish. A vegetarian central layer of steamed veggies, egg salad, or various cheeses, work well. The causa that I ate at Panchita in Lima had a very thick central layer of egg salad, tomatoes, and avocado. And you can use anything that sounds good for garnish: tomatoes, cucumbers, grated carrots—just use your imagination.

Causa served with salad

At Cusco Eats, the reviewer, Hebert Edgardo Huamani Jara, upon eating causa for the first time, wrote: 

I felt a celebration start on my taste buds. By the time I was finished I was absolutely  fascinated with the combination of tastes of the causa.

I felt the same way.

Salud!

Other Blog Posts You May Find Interesting

Causa

Shopping…Cooking…Eating: Causa

You can be very creative with this dish. A vegetarian central layer of steamed veggies, egg salad, or various cheeses, work well…And you can use anything that sounds good for garnish: tomatoes, cucumbers, grated carrots—just use your imagination.

Read More »
Picture of Cathy Fulton

Cathy Fulton

I am Cathy Fulton and I became a world nomad in 2014. Traveling has become a way of life for me. Except for the fact that I am a citizen of the United States, I don’t have a residence. I am retired and I like to travel solo and independently. I don’t know how many times I have heard, “You are living my dream.” My reply is, “It doesn’t have to be a dream. It can be a reality!"

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