Dim Sum Sunday theme is chilies! The divinely complex aji amarillo

Sunny and subtle: the Peruvian aji amarillo chili pepper

Darlings, darlings, darlings! Of course you know that La Diva, being a DIVA and all that goes with it, has her boys that lurve her and we drink and laugh and carouse about together. Such is the case with my "Pool Boys:" Oscar, Rodrigo, Mateo and Lalo.

About two years ago, I met these crazy queens down at our pool sporting tiny Speedos and HUGE cocktails (I said COCKTAILS, Mary!) and they were generally drawing attention to themselves with their outre behavior. La Diva naturally had to investigate and instantly, pool-side friendships were born.

La Diva's dream back yard: Since La Diva is a mermaid and would prefer to live her entire life in the water, I always thought the idea of the swim-up pool bar to be incredibly practical. Click on the photo to see ALL the fabulosity in detail!

So, I bet you are asking yourself, "What does all this have to do with Dim Sum Sunday and chilis?" Well, by living in Miami, La Diva is fortunate enough to have quite a diverse group of friends and the Pool Boys are Cuban, Italian-American, Colombian and Peruvian...So naturally, besides boys and cocktails, we talk about food and do fabulously decadent barbecues together.

I love tasting the different dishes that the boys bring based on traditional family recipes; Rodrigo's mama's rice and beans, Lalo's onion and tomato salsa, Oscar's chorizo and Mateo's vodka. (Ok, darling, I KNOW that vodka is NOT a meal to most but SOMEONE has to be practical!)

Oh dear, how did THIS photo sneak in? Another pool boy looking parched....

During one such event, I spoke with Lalo (the Peruvian) at length about these wonderfully colorful chili peppers I'd discovered: aji amarillo! Displaying a delightfully bright sunny color, I have tasted these chilies in a sauce with ceviche at the Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar and also as a condiment at a local Cuban restaurant.

All I knew about them was that these chilies are used extensively in Peruvian cooking. Being yellow, I found the taste to be different from red (ripened chilies seem to have a sweeter taste), green (they all have that slight bitter taste) and dried chilies (completely different taste from the same fresh chili) and I thought the heat, though muy caliente, was not too overpowering like a habanero chili.

La Diva LOVES the concept of a ceviche bar and had quite the fabulous time entertaining her Sydney gal pal Fifi there a few years back. This is the place where I had my first taste of the aji amarillo in one of their ceviche spoons. Click on their logo to see their ceviche menu.

Lalo told me that if I wanted to cook with them, I could find the aji amarillo at a small Peruvian grocery on the beach. I investigated and found the tiny Peruvian providores that sold the chilies frozen whole in bags. I bought them and they sat in my freezer for months before Diva needed the freezer space, booted them out and made a hot sauce with them. And then the hot sauce sat in the fridge a few more weeks, taken out occasionally only to season some scrambled eggs. That was it. I knew, however, that those chili peppers were screaming to be utilized for more, but how?

While looking for aji photos, I found this blogger that had some great recipes for the aji amarillo. Click on the photo to go to her site!

Coincidentally, I ran into Lalo the other day and told him I made the sauce and he exclaimed with delight: "Darling, if you like those peppers, you MUST try them in a cream sauce. They are divine!!" My curiosity piqued. And then came the Great Shamu's Chili pepper challenge, so no excuses any more, time to try something with the sunny sauce! So, for your Dim Sum Sunday delight and entertainment, La Diva offers you TWO dishes utilizing chili (and my bonus post from last time, the Chipotle chicken and bean stuffed poblanos!)

Before you can make either dish though, you need to make the sauce!

This is exactly how my hot sauce came out.

La Diva's Aji Amarillo hot sauce:

Roast one bag (about a pound) of aji amarillo chilies in broiler to blacken skin. (instructions here)

Take out seeds and cut chili into chunks. Put in food processor with a bit of water, 3 T apple cider vinegar and kosher salt to taste. Be conservative with the water as you don't want the sauce to be too runny but able to pour from a bottle. Pour into a bottle and keep in refrigerator, use as needed!

Aji amarillo grilled chicken

(Click image to see more detail!)

So, earlier today I marinated a few skinless chicken thighs in the hot sauce with more salt and olive oil for about a two hours. I broiled the chicken and added a bit more sauce to baste. While the chicken was moist and succulent, the flavor did not have a chance to really permeate the chicken. I want to try making this chicken again but allow it to marinate at least one entire day. In any case, my sidekick, DJ Nevah L8 ate his pieces and mine as well (I just wanted a taste) and I saw him licking his chops contentedly.

Prawns, Peruvian corn and zucchini pasta in aji amarillo cream sauce!

(Ok, you MUST click on the photo to see the detail! YUM!)

This recipe gets a big hmmmmmm....for now! The taste was delicious but the sauce needed something....I took about 1/3 cup of my hot sauce and mixed it with a cup of evaporated milk and reduced. I tried to save calories by not using cream. Diva wasn't giving it her full attention (that happens often on a Sunday!) and walked away only to come back and find the sauce bubbling away and curdled! Ah well, it still tasted good! I added a bit of salt and took it off the heat.

I sauteed the prawns in olive oil and then added some wine, which added no flavor whatsoever. The Peruvian corn (one of their varieties with the giant kernels, I don't remember it's name in Spanish) did not add much interest or taste to the dish either but contributed a chewy texture that I was not fond of. I'm not a fan of the giant corn, I find them incredibly starchy but I bought it at the same time as the peppers to try something new. Next time, I'll delete.

The zucchini that I had cut into long julienne strips and tossed raw into the al dente linguine, was THE SHIZZLE. It added such a lovely texture to the dish. So, this recipe needs a bit more work but it's a GREAT start! If any of my darlings have any ideas or suggestions to improve this dish, DO TELL! La Diva wants to hear ALL about it! Want to see what everyone else made with chilies? Click HERE!

Ciao for now and see you at the pool, darlings!cooking class, cocktails, parties, cocktail party, Miami, coral gables, events, bartending class, cocktail class, Laura Lafata, Miami Beach, miami cooking classes, bachelorette parties, bachelorette party, personal chef, corporate events, catering, personal chef, party entertainment