Book of Days Tales

Today is Willkakuti (Aymara for “Return of the Sun”), Machaq Mara (Aymara for “New Year”), Mara T’aqa, Jach’a Laymi or Pacha Kuti, an Aymara celebration in Bolivia, Chile, and southern parts of Peru, which commemorates the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. It is related to the Inca festival of Inti Raymi. The Aymara or Aimara people are an indigenous nation in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2 million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile.

Chairo is a traditional stew of the Aymaras . It is made of chuño (freeze dried potatoes), onions, carrots, potatoes, white corn, meat, wheat kernels and pretty much whatever you want to put in. It can also contain herbs and spices such as cumin and coriander. It is native to the region of La Paz, and, although obviously influenced by the cuisines of the Inca and the Spanish, is considered distinctively Aymara. It is the chuño that is the central ingredient. Without it all you have is a regular stew.

Chuño is a freeze-dried potato product traditionally made by Quechua and Aymara communities of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Peru. To make it is a five-day process. First you expose a frost-resistant variety of potatoes to the very low night temperatures of the Andean Altiplano, freezing them, and subsequently exposing them to the intense sunlight of the day. The word “chuño “ comes from Quechua ch’uñu, meaning ‘frozen potato’ (‘wrinkled’ in the dialects of the Junín Region).

To prepare chuño for cooking you must first soak it for about 5 hours in cold water. Change the water every hour otherwise the potatoes will have a sour taste. Here’s a pretty typical list of ingredients, which you can vary as you wish.   Modern recipes tend to be European in their methods, that is browning the meat and onions before simmering, and so forth. I imagine that classically everything was just dumped into a large pot over an open fire and simmered until everything was tender and blended. I also suspect that the usual meat was llama which tastes something like lamb or mutton.

Chairo

Ingredients

¼ kg of stewing beef (with bone) cut into 8 pieces
¼ kg chalona (dry and salty lamb meat) cut into 8 pieces
1 tbsp salt
½ cup of peeled Lima beans
½ cup of fresh green peas
½ cup of peeled carrots, cut into thin strips
4 cups of peeled potato, cut into thin strips
1 cup chuño washed, soaked, and peeled
1 cup peeled and cooked white corn
1 cup peeled and cooked wheat grains
1 cup white onion, cut into thin strips
2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ cup green onion, cut into strips

For serving

minced parsley
dried oregano
chopped, fresh hierba buena or mint

Instructions

Place the meats in a large soup pot, cover with water, and simmer until they are tender, 1 to 2 hours.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except those for serving), and simmer for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve in deep bowls with the parsley, oregano and hierba buena available for guests to add as they wish.