Aji De Gallina

Stew the chicken in enough water to come within an inch of the top of the chicken. In a blender or small food processor place the peppers, three cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and enough vegetable oil to process the peppers into a slightly chunky sauce. Set aside. In a blender place the bread, three cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of the hot pepper sauce, and evaporated milk. Puree until smooth. Chop onion and nuts and set aside. When the chicken is done, reserve stock and shred the chicken into a separate container. In cleaned stew pot place 2 tbsp vegetable oil and sauté onions until slightly clear on medium heat. Add cumin and turmeric and continue cooking a minute or so, stirring often to toast the spices. Add all but 1 cup of stock to sautéed onion, stirring to release the spices from bottom of pan. Add the evaporated milk mixture to pan and lower heat. Heat through, stirring often to prevent sticking. The sauce thickens quickly. (If the sauce isn’t as thick as you like you can put the reserved chicken stock in the blender with more crackers and puree smooth, then add to pot until it is the consistency that you like. If it thickens too much you can add the remaining stock and/or a little milk to thin it out.) Add the shredded chicken, parmesan cheese, and nuts. Add salt and more of the pepper sauce to taste and serve over rice. I always offer the remaining pepper sauce at the table, because this dish is best really spicy, but some people can’t tolerate too much heat so I make it mild for them.