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    Potatoes · Recipe · Peru · Reference page

    Causa limeña

    Layers of cold yellow-potato purée seasoned with ají amarillo, oil and lime, filled with chicken in mayonnaise and avocado and topped with egg and black olives. The recipe is from the Lima newspaper La República. Stories of its origin are many and unproven.

    A rectangular causa limeña with golden potato layers,avocado and shredded chicken in mayonnaise,topped with hard-boiled egg slices and black olive halves on a white plate.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    6
    Preparation
    40 min
    Cooking
    30 min
    Total
    1 h 10
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Potato ricer or press
    • Blender
    • Rectangular mould or dish (or a ring mould for individual causas)
    Servings6

    Ingredients

    • Ají amarillo paste

    • The potato

    • The chicken

    • To assemble

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Put the chillies in a pan, cover with water and boil for 12 minutes. Drain, peel off the skins and blend with a little water to a paste.

      Timer · 12 min12:00

    2. Boil the potatoes until tender, peel them and press them into a large bowl while warm. Mix in 6 tbsp of the ají paste, the oil, lime juice and salt to a smooth, firm purée. Let it cool.

      Why Pressing, not blending, keeps the purée dense; lime and oil season and soften it so it can be shaped cold.

      Timer · 25 min25:00

    3. Put the chicken breast in a pan with the onion, celery, carrot, peppercorns, salt and water to cover. Cook 20–25 minutes, then lift it out, shred it and let it cool.

      Timer · 22 min22:00

    4. Mix the cold chicken with the mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

    5. Oil the mould. Spread a layer of potato as a base, a thin layer of mayonnaise, the avocado slices and the chicken, then cover with the rest of the potato.

    6. Decorate with egg slices and olives and serve cold.

    To drink & serve with

    Substitutions

    • Chicken → Tuna, crab, prawns or more avocado: causas are filled with many things.
    • Papa amarilla → A floury yellow-fleshed potato such as Yukon Gold.

    Common mistakes

    • Blending the potatoes: the purée turns gluey.
    • Assembling with warm chicken and mayonnaise: unsafe and it slides.

    Storage & reheating

    Keep refrigerated and eat the same day or the next. Do not leave at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

    Safety

    Contains egg (mayonnaise, eggs) and celery (poaching). Poultry must be cooked through. A cold dish with mayonnaise: keep chilled.

    Allergens

    Egg · Celery

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    gluten-free · dairy-free

    Kausay, or a cause

    Origin stories for causa are plentiful. An SBS recipe page repeats that "some people say" the name comes from the Quechua kausay, "sustenance of life", which would give the dish pre-Hispanic roots as boiled potato eaten with chilli, and that Lima-style causa took shape in the colonial period, when other ingredients were added. It also tells the "most folkloric" version: a Lima nun, asked at short notice to feed soldiers on Independence Day, made it from what she had, and named it for the cause. None of these stories is documented in the sources we used.

    [1]

    A cold, seasoned purée

    La República's recipe starts with a home-made paste of ají amarillo, boiled for 12 minutes, peeled and blended. Six tablespoons of it, with half a cup of oil and lime juice, season 1.5 kg of pressed yellow potato. The purée is shaped cold in an oiled mould around a filling of poached chicken in mayonnaise and avocado. It is served as a starter or a main course.

    [2]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Peru In preparation

    Potato

    Recipe

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