A festive red stew from Ayacucho with serious body. Potatoes are wrapped in a creamy peanut and ají panca sauce, topped with crisp pork and a minty onion salsa that cuts through the richness. It is the kind of dish that makes waiting for everyone to sit down surprisingly difficult.
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Set aside roughly one third of the red onion and slice it very thin. Mix it with the lime juice, part of the chopped mint, and a small portion of the salt; gently squeeze it with your fingers for a few seconds and set aside so the salsa loses its harsh raw edge while you cook. Chop the remaining onion and peel the garlic.
Cut the pork belly into medium pieces and place it in a pot with the water, another portion of the mint, and another portion of the salt. Partially cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, until the pork is tender when pierced and has produced a flavorful broth. Remove the pork and keep all of the broth.
Peel the white potatoes and cut them into large cubes. Cook them in the reserved broth for 10 to 12 minutes, until tender while still holding their edges well. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve the broth again; the potatoes will finish in the sauce.
Dry the cooked pork belly thoroughly. Heat part of the vegetable oil in a pan and brown it for 6 to 8 minutes, turning the pieces until they develop a deeply browned surface and crisp edges. Remove and set aside; reserve roughly one quarter for the stew and keep the rest for topping the plates.
Cut the beetroot into small cubes and blend it with the toasted peanuts and about 250 ml of the reserved broth for 45 seconds, until you have a fairly smooth red cream. It does not need restaurant-level silkiness; a faint peanut texture is welcome.
Heat the remaining oil in a pot and cook the remaining onion for 5 minutes, until very soft. Add the garlic, ají panca paste, cumin, black pepper, and another portion of the salt; cook for 4 minutes, stirring until the chili loses its raw aroma and the seasoning base looks dark and glossy. Add the beet-and-peanut cream and enough reserved broth to make a thick sauce; simmer gently for 6 minutes, stirring so the peanuts do not catch on the bottom.
Fold the potatoes and reserved portion of crisp pork into the sauce and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring gently until everything is well coated and the puca is creamy, thick, and still juicy. Turn off the heat, add the remaining mint, and check the final seasoning. Serve with the white rice, a generous portion of puca picante, crisp pork on top, and the onion salsa alongside. And that’s it—if the crisp pork starts disappearing from the serving dish before the fourth plate is ready, the recipe has already done its job.
