Here is our recipe for the beloved Salteña.  We make ours with chicken, potatoes and peas but you can switch the chicken for beef and pair it with beef broth for an equally delicious variation. 

A salteña is what you see above, it is the image in our header, it is our favorite food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Salteñas are immensely popular in Fabio’s home country – Bolivia, they are probably as close as you will get to a Bolivian national dish as they are one of the only foods that are enjoyed in all corners of the country.  Also, no one has ever tried a salteña and not loved it… probably…

The appeal of the salteña to me is that it is so many things at the same time… To start with it is a sweet pastry, and it is filled with a sweet and spicy broth made with aji amarillo (yellow pepper) and the filling has chicken, potatoes, veggies, a slice of hard boiled egg and either an olive or a few raisins.  Comfort food at its finest. 

After countless batches of trial and error, this is our version to share with you.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Provecho!

Ingredients (filling)

 

• 3 Chicken breasts / pechugas de pollo
• 1 Potato / papa
• 1 Green onion / cebolla verde
• 1/2 Yellow onion / cebolla
• 1/4 cup peas / arbejas
• 2 tablespoons yellow pepper paste (or more if desire to add more heat) /
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin / cucharilla de comino
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano / cucharilla de oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt / cucharilla de sal
• Pepper to taste / pimienta a gusto
• 1 tablespoon sugar / cuchara de azúcar
• 1/4 teaspoon vinegar / cucharilla de vinagre
• 1/4 cup butter / taza de mantequilla
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley / cuchara de perejil picado
• 4 cups chicken stock / tazas de caldo de pollo
• 1 packet of gelatin /paquete de gelatina sin sabor

Instructions 

 

Dice the potato and add it to a pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes, you don’t want the potatoes to be soft or they will fall apart in the broth, they will still cook a bit longer once they are added to the rest of the ingredients.  After 5 minutes, drain the potatoes and set aside / Cortar la papa en cuadritos y agregarlos al agua hirviendo por 5 minutos, las papas no deben estar tan blandas esto es debido a que van a seguir ser cocinadas luego.

Boil the chicken breasts in a pot of water until they are completely cooked through, let cool and then shred the meat into small pieces.  Set aside / Poner las pechugas de pollo a cocinar hasta que estén listas, luego desmenuzar el pollo y poner de lado.