Huatia (or watya, in Quechua) is a traditional Andean preparation from Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile: food cooked by the heat of the earth, in an oven of clods built in the field.
How it’s made
A dome of dry clods (k’urpas) or stones is built on flat ground, heated with firewood or dry grasses, and, once very hot, collapsed over the food so it cooks buried. In Peru’s southern Andes the main ingredient is potatoes, with oca, fava beans, cheese, or meat.
Its origin
It’s pre-Columbian: around 1600, the chronicler Francisco de Ávila recorded in Huarochirí the myth of Huatiacuri, who ate potatoes roasted in the hot earth.
Editor’s note: Recetas123 doesn’t publish a recipe with quantities for this preparation because it hasn’t found a formula documented by a reliable source; this page describes it according to the sources consulted.
Frequently Asked Questions
An Andean way of cooking potatoes and other foods buried in a clod oven heated with firewood.
Yes, both cook with the heat of the earth; huatia uses a dome of clods.
Mainly potatoes, plus oca, fava beans, cheese, or meat, depending on the area.
