Region: Central Andes
Type: Main or side
Makes: 8 cakes
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

What they are

Llapingachos are mashed potato cakes, coloured with achiote, filled with cheese and cooked slowly on a griddle until a crust forms. The name comes from Kichwa, the Indigenous language of the Andes. They are a meal in themselves with an egg and chorizo, or one part of a hornado plate.

The peanut sauce surprises most first-timers. It is savoury, not sweet: peanut, onion and milk, cooked down into a thin, spoonable sauce. Peanuts are native to South America and turn up across Andean cooking.

Getting them to hold

The two most common problems are wet potatoes and warm cakes. Let the boiled potatoes steam dry before mashing, and chill the shaped cakes before frying. Cook them over a medium heat rather than a high one so the crust forms before the cheese escapes.

Llapingachos recipe

Makes 8 cakes, serves 4

Ingredients

1kg floury potatoes, peeled
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp ground annatto
2 spring onions, very finely chopped
150g mozzarella or queso fresco, grated or finely chopped
Salt
Oil for the pan
For the peanut sauce: 100g smooth unsweetened peanut butter, ½ onion finely chopped, 1 garlic clove, ½ tsp ground annatto, 200ml milk
To serve: fried eggs, chorizo, avocado and curtido (sliced red onion and tomato in lime juice)

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain well and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.
Melt the butter with the annatto and spring onion for a minute, then mash into the potatoes until smooth. Season and leave to cool enough to handle.
Divide into 8 balls. Push a thumb into each, fill with cheese, close the potato around it and flatten into a cake about 2cm thick. Chill for 30 minutes so they hold together.
For the sauce, soften the onion and garlic with the annatto in a little oil, stir in the peanut butter and milk and simmer gently until it coats a spoon.
Fry the cakes in a lightly oiled pan over a medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes a side until golden and crisp.
Serve two per person with the peanut sauce, a fried egg, chorizo, avocado and curtido.

What you’ll need

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