Causa Limeña

Causa Limeña: Step by Step

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1. Boil the potatoes whole in their skins for 20 to 25 minutes until completely tender. Drain and peel while still hot.

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2. Pass them through a ricer into a bowl while hot — cold potato will not take the seasoning smoothly.

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3. Work in the ají amarillo paste, lime juice, oil and salt, kneading with your hands for 3 minutes until the mash is smooth, dense and slightly elastic. Taste: it should be sharp and clearly spiced.

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4. Cool the potato completely, covered.

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5. Mix the chicken or crab with the mayonnaise, spring onion, celery, lime, salt and white pepper.

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6. Line a loaf tin or a ring mould with cling film.

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7. Press in a third of the potato in an even layer, then half the filling, then avocado slices.

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8. Add another third of potato, the rest of the filling, and finish with the last of the potato, pressing each layer flat.

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9. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.

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10. Turn out, peel off the film, and decorate with egg slices, olives, piped mayonnaise and coriander. Serve cold.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Keep an Eye on These

1. Rice the potatoes hot, season hot, chill after. Order matters.
2. Season harder than seems right. Cold mutes everything.
3. Overnight in the fridge gives clean slices.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• Lemon is the everyday swap for limes in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

The Short Version

The potato is mashed while hot but seasoned and worked until it is smooth and slightly elastic, then chilled — that structure is what lets it be sliced. Ají amarillo paste and lime go in generously because the dish is served cold, and cold food needs more seasoning than hot food to taste the same.

To Go With It

A pisco sour · Salsa criolla · Choclo corn

Leftovers

Refrigerate up to 2 days, wrapped. Do not freeze.

Quick Answers

What's in a Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low; salt added to taste is not counted, so the sodium is low; part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.

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