Anyone have a simple recipe for Causa Limena?!
Answers: Something like a Peruvian potato salad. I need it with simple ingredients. Thanks!
CAUSA A LA LIMENA (POTATO DISH)
8 yellow potatoes, unpeeled
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. ground hot yellow peppers
Cook the potatoes with salt, remove skins and mash well. Add the lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper and hot peppers. Shape into small balls or spread on platter and cover with onion sauce.
Garnish with the following: ripe olives, fresh cheese, sliced hard-boiled eggs, cooked shrimp, pieces of fried white fish and lettuce leaves.
Causa in its basic form is a mashed yellow potato dumpling mixed with lemon, onion, chili and oil. Varieties can have avocado, chicken, tuna (typically canned) or even shellfish added to the mixture. Also Causa is very popular in Lima which distinguishes this dish by saying Causa Lime?a Causa is usually served cold with hard boiled eggs and olives.
Causa Limena (Peruvian Potato Salad)
Ingredients (use vegan versions):
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and steamed or boiled till floury
3 teaspoons yellow chili powder (aji), or enough cayenne to make potatoes taste well-
seasoned and mildly spicy
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons oil
1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 cup mild red onion, cut into thinnest slices
1 ripe tomato, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
Note: can use tempeh or garbanzo "chicken" salad in place of veggies
olives, strips of hot or sweet peppers, mayonnaise, etc. for garnish
optional: 1-2 limes
Directions:
Mash potatoes with chili powder or cayenne pepper, turmeric, salt, and oil. You may also add the juice of a lime, but don't make the potatoes too wet. They should be stiff, relatively smooth, and very well seasoned. Allow to cool to room temperature, if not already cold.
Oil a loaf pan or other deep-walled dish (I use a casserole). Press half of potato mixture into loaf pan, creating a flat surface. Arrange vegetables and mayonnaise, or "chicken" salad (I like to keep the avocadoes in this case), atop potatoes in a more-or-less even set of layers, and then top with the remaining potatoes, smoothing the top flat. The effect should be something like a layer cake. Chill. You may decorate the top (or turn out the whole shebang onto a platter when cold and decorate the bottom!) with piped on mayonnaise, ketchup, arranged peppers and olives, or what have you.
I do not like ketchup on this, but Peruvian cooks often use it for contrast; they almost always use copious amounts of mayonnaise to decorate, either piped on in a lattice or spread on (too much!!)
This will be very firm when cold: do chill it, but don't let it sit in the fridge for ages-- it's best on the day it's made. Serve in slices. It will be very rich and is an unusual appetizer--very tasty and also festive to the eye, if your guests can stand the idea of cold potatoes!
This dish is made in Peru with a few different fillings: either a salad of chicken, chopped celery, and mayonnaise (with infinite variations), a mayonnaisey tuna salad, or vegetables, as above. Sometimes peas are included in any variation. Do include the avocado-- it's really special.
A squeeze of lime juice on the veggies makes it tastier and keeps the avocado from going brown, although with a good layer of taters on top it's anaerobic and doesn't usually brown.
Serves: 4-6