aji amarillo - pastes, uses, etc

[jedovaty]

Hi!

I have a nice crop of aji amarillo from my garden 😁.  Sadly I cannot eat spicy foods like I used to, so I am trying to find ways to use them up and/or store them for a bit longer.  I think I will wash, dry, and freeze whole for now.  Meantime, while reviewing recipes and reading up on general use, I ended up with a few questions that I hope some of you more experienced with this might be able to help out.

 

1. To make paste, one blanches, peels, then blends with a little water or oil, and this can be stored in the freezer.  The general recipes call for boiling the peppers 5-10 minutes, until the skin peels off easy.   My eyebrow raises in response in an attempt to mimic the Rock: wouldn't boiling pull some of the beautiful flavor into the water?  Why not roast and peel?  I know I *can* do this, but I'm wondering why this is not the practice...  I also generally like to try to attempt authentic techniques to learn about the flavors and uses, before playing my own.

 

2. Searching the forum here, I read many of you use the paste to make wings.  Any other uses?

 

3. On a visit to Aruba earlier this year, I ate at a fancy pantsy fancy fance pinky out peruvian restaurant that had this amazing sauce alongside some grilled shrimp.  They had same sauce for dipping bread into.  When I asked what was in the sauce, they weren't keen to share.  I just remember it was creamy, fruity, had that aji amarillo flavor right up front, and not overly spicy.  They swore to me it did not have dairy in it, but there could've been errors in translation as our server must've been new and was not comfortable answering details questions.  Oh, well.  Anyone have aji amarillo sauce ideas that would pair well with seafood?  I've been thinking of starting with a romesco-like technique, but feels like that might be too strong for fish.  Lima Bistro's site only has an aji amarillo buerre blanc on their menu now, I don't see the dishes we had.

 

Mmmm. GERD has already begun plotting its revenge on me just writing this 😭

[ElsieD]

https://www.seriouseats.com/braised-chicken-aji-amarillo-coconut-milk-recipe

 

 

[Okanagancook]

I grew those peppers a couple of years ago and dried them for a convenient way of preserving them.

[jedovaty]

54 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

https://www.seriouseats.com/braised-chicken-aji-amarillo-coconut-milk-recipe

The end product here is similar to chicken paprikas.  Neat!  GERD will not be happy.

[ElsieD]

33 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

The end product here is similar to chicken paprikas.  Neat!  GERD will not be happy.

GERD is never happy.  Ask me how I know.