National Dishes of the World

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Ajiaco
Photo: Mauricio Giraldo from Bogotá, Colombia, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

soup

Ajiaco

A thick soup of chicken and three kinds of potato with corn and guascas herb, served with cream and capers.

Eaten in: Colombia

Prep
30 min
Cooking
1 h 30 min
Total
2 h
Servings
6

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About the dish

Ajiaco is Bogotá's best-known soup, perfect for the cool climate of a capital set high in the Andes. It is made with chicken and three kinds of potato: floury sabanera breaks down and thickens the broth, pastusa keeps its shape, and small yellow criolla adds creaminess and colour. Chunks of corn on the cob go in too, along with guascas – a dried herb with a faintly grassy aroma, without which ajiaco does not taste right. At the table everyone adds thick cream, capers and avocado to their bowl, with a dish of white rice alongside. Ajiaco is especially a Sunday family lunch.

Main ingredients

  • chicken
  • three kinds of potato
  • corn on the cob
  • guascas
  • cream
  • capers
  • avocado

Colombia: Ajiaco santafereño is the soup of Bogotá and the surrounding Andes.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Ajiaco

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/ajiaco

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Put the chicken in a pot with the water, whole spring onions, garlic, coriander and salt. Simmer for about 40 minutes, skimming.

  2. Lift out the chicken and strain the broth. Take the meat off the bone and tear into pieces.

  3. Peel and slice the sabanera and pastusa potatoes and leave the criolla whole. Cut the corn cobs into 3–4 pieces.

  4. Add the sabanera and pastusa potatoes and the corn to the broth and cook for about 25 minutes, until the floury potatoes start to fall apart.

  5. Add the criolla potatoes and guascas and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring now and then so the soup thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Return the chicken, heat through and serve in deep bowls with a piece of corn, with the cream, capers and avocado on the side.

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