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Potatoes À LA Huancaina

Potatoes à la Huancaina is a Peruvian dish of boiled potatoes topped with a creamy yellow chili sauce and garnished with parsley and olives.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cottage cheese and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 126 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Potatoes À LA Huancaina

Timeabout 6 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the potatoes

  1. Cover the potatoes with water.

  2. Bring to a boil and cook until tender.

  3. Drain and cool.

  4. Peel and slice into 1/2-inch rounds.

Make the sauce

  1. In a skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat.

  2. Add onion and chili and cook about 6 minutes.

  3. Put the onion in a blender and add the cottage cheese, grated cheese, and skim milk. Puree until smooth.

Assemble and serve

  1. Arrange some potato slices on top of the lettuce and spoon sauce over them.

  2. Sprinkle with chopped parsley; decorate each with an olive and serve.

  3. Serve with grilled fish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

702Calories
32 gProtein
36 gFat
66 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Cottage Cheese1/2 cup (113g) 2%98
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Romaine Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Olive1 large (4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cottage cheese + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together126 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the dish, providing starchy body once boiled and sliced.
Cottage cheese
Gives the sauce its creamy body and smooth, thick texture when pureed.
Grated cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and richness to the sauce.
Olive oil
Carries the onion and chili flavors into the sauce and adds fat for mouthfeel.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the sauce once softened in oil.
Skim milk
Thins the cheese mixture so it blends into a pourable, smooth sauce.

The step that matters

Puree until smooth. Blending the cottage cheese, grated cheese and milk with the cooked onion must fully emulsify the mixture; under-blending leaves grainy or lumpy sauce with uneven texture.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, olive, onion, cottage cheese, cheese, milk, lettuce):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, olive, onion, cottage cheese, cheese, milk, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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