Causa limeña recipe: Gastón Acurio's potato terrine

Causa limeña is Peru's cold potato terrine: mashed yellow potato seasoned with lime and ají amarillo chilli, layered with a savoury filling and served in thick, chilled slices rather than as a hot side. Lima chef Gastón Acurio, who has done more than anyone to take Peruvian home cooking onto restaurant menus, builds his version around one technique: pressing the potato while it is still warm, so it sets smooth instead of grainy once it cools.

The dish carries real history. Acurio traces the name to the war with Chile in the 1880s, when Lima women sold mashed potato with chilli in the streets to fund the resistance, selling it “por la causa” — for the cause. It has stayed a starter or light lunch in Peruvian homes ever since, built from what was cheap and available: potato, chilli, lime and whatever protein was on hand.

Ingredients

Peru's most humble potato dish still argues its case one course at a time.

• 1 kg yellow potatoes (papa amarilla, or Yukon Gold as the closest substitute)
• 3 tbsp ají amarillo paste
• Juice of 3 limes
• 4 tbsp neutral oil
• Salt, to taste
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded (or 300 g cooked crab or tuna)
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 ripe avocado, sliced
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• Black olives, to garnish

Method

1. Boil the potatoes whole, skin on, until a knife slides in easily, about 30 minutes. Cooking them unpeeled keeps water from soaking into the flesh, which is what makes the mash grainy rather than smooth.
2. While still hot, peel the potatoes and pass them through a ricer, or mash thoroughly with a fork. Working with them hot lets the starch bind as it cools; wait too long and the mash turns gluey when pressed.
3. Once the potato has cooled to room temperature, work in the ají amarillo paste, lime juice, oil and salt by hand until fully combined. Kneading rather than folding stops the chilli paste from streaking and keeps the colour and heat even throughout.
4. Mix the shredded chicken with the mayonnaise and diced tomato to make the filling.
5. Press a layer of the potato mixture into a ring mould or small loaf tin, add the chicken filling, then top with a second layer of potato, smoothing the surface with a spatula dipped in water.
6. Chill for at least one hour before unmoulding — the dish is meant to be eaten cold, and the chill firms the layers enough to hold their shape when sliced.
7. Top with avocado slices, egg, tomato and olives just before serving.

Serving it the way Lima does

Causa is built to be made a day ahead: the flavour settles and the layers hold better once fully chilled overnight. Serve it with chifles (fried plantain crisps) or corn on the side, the way street vendors have for over a century, and keep portions moderate — it reads as a starter or light lunch, not a main course, however substantial the potato layer looks on the plate. Lima's kitchens are having a moment: the city hosts the World's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony this November, and dishes like this one, alongside Mexico's grilled street corn, show why Latin American street food keeps working its way onto tasting menus.