Dear Armando: My family is coming for a few weeks around Christmas. What Bolivian foods do you recommend that they try?
— A Gourmand
Dear Gourmand:
You’ve come to the right person. Food is my specialty… well, eating it is, actually. Two of my favorite Bolivian dishes include freeze-dried potatoes. Sajta de pollo (or its Peruvian variation, picante de pollo) is a light chicken stew bordering on soup. Whole pieces (or shredded in the Peruvian dish) of chicken are cooked in a spicy sauce with yellow (or red) peppers, potatoes, onions and other vegetables and spices. The potatoes in this dish are usually tunta, freeze-dried white potatoes that have been “washed” in freezing river water and then dried in the sun. Steamed tunta cut and stuffed with cheese is also served with the traditional Christmas dish called picana.
Chuño are potatoes that have been laid out on the ground to be exposed to the cold winter nights and sunny days. These black potatoes are in fricasé, charquecán, chicharón paceño and picante sultido.
My friends also recommend that you enjoy your meal with a Bolivian beer. Huari from Oruro and Paceña from La Paz are favorites along with Taquiña from Cochabamba or a heavier beer called Bock.
But obviously that’s only a few meals. Since your family is in town for a few weeks, much to my pleasure, we’ll have to revisit this subject.
