Places, people, things, food are always related to a word. Like when one thinks about the word Mama, what comes to my mind is… home, my mom, a letter that should have never be need it to be written, a basket with chicken and potatoes that fills the heart of a little, maybe 3 years old. Since that day I always revoke food with with meaningful words; at least I think that is when all started, my love for flavors, always trying to eat from that little basket again.

But let’s go now to another word, the one that we came to explain today. So let’s do the translation first, “aguadito” which in translation means “water-down” is a Peruvian broth based soup, that is originally made by boiling chicken feet for a very long time, and thicken with rice and flavored with a liquidly paste of cilantro and sometimes spinach as well. The soup is delicious but the nutritional value of an original aguadito works magically, as when you drink this type of soups it awakens you and makes you feel better. It is perfect in the mornings after a long night of having fun, or for those that had to work thru the night.

This soup is what French cuisine will considered a restorative, good for the recovery of a tire body, also offer to travelers. Recovery soups are a gift from French Cuisine.

What comes to memory, dancing all night long in a new year party. The adult party was held at my aunt’s house and the youth party across the street and my cousins were there with me, and I dance all night , I might have miss 2 songs that is all! 6 am hit and my mama and I took a power nap at my aunt’s house and were awoken by people making noise during breakfast and to our surprise the lady from the youth’s party had made soup for both houses! My mom made the soup all the time, but the day by day sometimes is forgotten but the parties are harder to forget! That was not the only time I had the privilege to eat real Aguadito, but it was the first Aguadito that was the real thing! Recipe today is the real Aguadito, I will soon give you a short version of this soup, but… if your family has the flu!!! this soup is listed as “Levanta Muertos” which in translation means that the soup is so full of nutrition that will awaken a dead person. I hope that if someone visits Peru, you give it a try!

Aguadito de Pollo (Peruvian Cilantro Chicken Soup)

Ingredients:

• For the base of the soup
  • 1 lb. Chicken feet
  • 1/2 whole chicken, approximate 2lb.
  • Canola oil, as needed
  • 1 medium yellow onion (small diced)
  • 1 tbsp. Garlic, minced
  • 4 tbsp. Aji Amarillo
  • 12 cups Water, if you are not using bones, please use a stock or a broth
• 1 medium yellow onion (small diced)
• 1 tbsp. Garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp. Aji Amarillo
• 2 large carrot (small dice)
• 2 medium Idaho potatoes, medium diced
• 1/2 Cup corn (2 corns on a cob if on season, cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 1 red pepper ( small diced)
• 1/2 Cup White Rice
• Pisco or beer (optional)
• Aji Mirasol, whole (substitute with a dry new Mexico chili)
• Cilantro Paste for Aguadito: Blend the following ingredients until smooth
  • 1 bunch Cilantro
  • Large handful Spinach
  • 2 tbsp. oil
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1/2 tsp. Coriander
  • 2 tbsp. Aji Amarillo
• 1 Cup green peasTo
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat a large stock pot, over high heat. Add just a bit of oil and heated through.
2. Place chicken in the stock pot and lightly season with salt and ground pepper. Sear the the pieces of chicken feet and chicken on both sides until golden. Remove from pot and set aside.
3. Keep the pot over high heat; quickly add the onions with a pinch of salt. Stir until golden.
4. Stir the garlic and aji amarillo until fragrant and incorporate the water, chicken feet, and chicken.
5. Bring liquid to a simmer. Approximately 30-minutes into simmering, the chicken should be cooked (double check with a thermometer), remove the chicken pieces, and shred the chicken flesh into large bite size pieces. Return the bones to the pot and keep at a steady simmering for 3-hours. Set the shredded pieces of chicken aside.
6. Simultaneously, prep the rest of the ingredients and set aside.
7. Approximately 30-minutes before finishing simmering the pot with the bones . Preheat a soup-pot, over medium high heat. Add the oil and heated through.
8. Add the onions, and a pinch of salt. Sauté onions until translucent. Lower the heat and cook the onions until tender to the bite and a little caramelized.
9. While the onions are getting ready, strain the broth. Discard bones. Set aside.
10. Stir in the garlic until fragrant. Incorporate the aji amarillo, carrots, potatoes, corn, red peppers, and white rice.
11. Stir for 1-2 minutes and incorporate the pisco. follow with at least 8 cups of broth. (if you have more broth set it aside, you might needed)
12. Cook the soup, until rice and potatoes are cooked through. Add the whole dry pepper and the cilantro paste. Allow soup to simmer for at least 5 minutes.
13. Add the green peas, the reserved chicken pieces and more broth, if desired.

Chef Notes for the Pro-Chef Kitchen

• Sear/Searing
  • To sear any type of meat or vegetable, preheat cooking vessel until very hot, brush with oil, and allow the oil to preheat.
  • Add ingredient to be sear, and allow a reasonable length of time for the food to be in direct contact with the hot oil in the cooking vessel.
  • Usually this time varies from 1-3 minutes; depending on the thickness and temperature of what is being sear.
  • To sear; to brown food quickly over high heat; it is a technique usually used as a preparatory step for further combination methods of cooking.