Pachamanca (Peruvian recipes)

 Total time: 4 hours. Quantity: 5-10 people.

Typical Peruvian food prepared underground and with a very pleasant taste.

The Pachamanca, is a peculiar food, prepared with meat, and it is cooked making a hole under the ground. It is prepared mainly for big parties, where people get together and make a series of festivities. In the parts of the highlands, the pachamanca, usually has a different preparation from many others, as you can add any meat that is within reach, and this preparation is given exclusively in these parts, as conditions permit. There is no doubt that the pachamanca, is a very traditional food, and at the same time very rich, both in the form, as well as the flavor it has. 

Let's see how to prepare it!

Peruvian Pachamanca

Ingredients.

• 2 kilos of pork, kid, or lamb meat (optional).
• ½ kilo of yuccas, cut in half.
• ½ kilo of yellow potatoes.
• ½ kilo of sweet potatoes.
• ½ kilo of broad beans.
• Beans, ingredient

Beans, ingredient

Preparation of the recipe.

Preparation of the soil.

1. Prepare a space of land, which is appropriate, then dig enough so that the chosen meat and its ingredients can enter.
2. We choose a set of stones, which are going to be browned until they are very hot (the stone should be red hot). This is going to be heated by means of the embers, which will be made by means of the firewood.
3. We form an enclosure of stones around the hole, and we cover the walls of the hole with banana leaves, and we let it heat for one hour and 30 minutes.

Preparation of the meat.

1. The meat must be macerated, and the dressing can be prepared with huacatay, oregano, aji colorado, ground garlic, vinegar, Sillao, and oil (as if it were a normal preparation, just like a stew of any other meal).
2. Place on the red-hot stones, the meat that we have macerated; and we add it as if it were a scale. One by one, together with the ingredients such as the beans, the yucca, the potatoes, and the sweet potatoes.
3. Once ready, we cover it with banana leaves and "costalillos", so that the steam from the embers does not escape. And once prepared, have chicha de jora and aji (hot bell pepper) available to accompany it.
4. Let it cook, between one hour and 2 hours. Once it is ready, serve it on a large plate with a fruit drink or chicha de jora.

Cut and season the meat, like any other stew.

Note: You may choose the meat specified in this recipe, or use all three meats to cook it. This way your pachamanca will be more assorted.

Definition of Pachamanca.

The word Pachamanca comes from the Quechua word pacha 'general' and manka 'pot'. Meat, seasoned with chili that is roasted between heated stones, or in a hole that is opened in the ground, covered with hot stones.

Video of the preparation.