A concentrated cooking base for chupe: red onion, garlic, yellow chili, and ají panca cooked in vegetable oil until the flavors settle and bloom. Boosted with tomato paste and spices, then finished with huacatay for a fresh herbal hit. This is the backbone that gives chupe its depth, color, and character.
Finely chop the red onion and huacatay. Remove veins and seeds from the yellow chili, cut it into pieces, and blend it with the water into a thick paste; it should not be watery.
Heat the vegetable oil in a pot and sauté the red onion with part of the
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Add the ground garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until fragrant. Then add the yellow chili paste and panca chili paste; cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring, until the oil takes on color and the chilies lose their raw edge.
Add the tomato paste, cumin, black pepper, dried oregano, and the remaining salt. Cook for 4 minutes, until the base looks darker, glossy, and concentrated.
Lower the heat, add the huacatay, and cook for 1 minute, just to release its aroma without dulling it. The base should be thick, reddish orange, and smell deeply like chupe.
Use the base hot inside the chupe, or let it cool for 10 minutes before storing. If saving it, cool it quickly and keep it refrigerated; this is a concentrated cooking base, not a sauce to leave forgotten on the table.
