Chuño cola, or lawa de chuño, is a thick potage from Peru’s southern Andes made with mutton broth, potato, rice, and chickpeas, thickened with chuño and moraya flour.
It’s made in Puno and Cusco and scented with muña, cilantro, and mint.
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Peruvian Chuño Cola Soup
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Peruvian
Ingredients
- ½ kg mutton
- 1 carrot
- 2 red onions (1 for the broth and 1 for the base)
- Water, as needed
- 250 g black chuño (freeze-dried potato)
- 10 morayas (white chuño)
- 250 g chickpeas
- 5 white potatoes
- 100 g rice
- Ground garlic, cumin, pepper, and salt, to taste
- Oil
- ½ bunch of cilantro
- ½ bunch of muña (Andean mint)
- Mint and oregano, to taste
Preparation
- Make the broth, cut the mutton into medium pieces and simmer it in water with one onion and the carrot, quartered. When the meat is tender, remove it and set aside; strain the broth.
- Make the chuño flour, peel the chuño and morayas and grind them. Soak the resulting flour, let it settle, and change the water; repeat four times. Cook the chickpeas separately and set aside.
- Make the base, finely dice the other onion and peel and cube the potatoes. In a pot with a little hot oil, sweat the onion with the garlic, cumin, pepper, and salt.
- Cook, add the broth; when it boils, add the potatoes, rice, and a little salt, along with the chickpeas and the reserved meat. When everything is cooked, take the pot off the heat and gradually stir in the chuño and moraya flour with a wooden spoon.
- Thicken and serve, return the pot to the heat with the chopped cilantro, muña, mint, and oregano, stirring constantly; when it boils and reaches the desired thickness, remove, adjust the seasoning, and serve right away in deep bowls.
Tips
- Change the water on the chuño flour several times to remove bitterness and husks.
- Add the flour off the heat while stirring so no lumps form.
- Serve right away: it thickens as it cools.
Traditional variations
- Some versions use chicken and fava beans instead of mutton and chickpeas.
How to serve
Serve the chuño cola piping hot, in a deep bowl.
Recommended pairings
- Ground rocoto
- Andean bread
Did you know?
Chuño is potato freeze-dried by frost and sun on the altiplano; moraya is white chuño.
Frequently Asked Questions
A thick southern Andean potage of mutton broth with potato, rice, and chickpeas, thickened with chuño and moraya flour.
To remove bitterness and husks; the water is changed four times.
Muña, cilantro, mint, and oregano, added at the end.
