Colombian · sauce/condiment

Ají Casero con Aguacate

Ají Casero con Aguacate reads sourness 6.4, citrus 5.6 and richness 3.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Colombian sauce/condiment, about 59 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sourness 6.4 · Citrus 5.6 · Richness 3.8 · Salinity 3.6 · Herbaceous 3.5 · Allium 2.4 · Umami 1.9 · Sweetness 1.0 · Floral 0.9 · Earthy 0.8

What's in it (11)

Time & effort: about 59 min (14 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 52.8 kcal, 1.4 g protein, 4 g fat, 3.4 g carbs

Dietary: Vegetarian · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

  1. Colombian ají is not a cooked salsa and not a hot sauce in the bottled sense. It is a fresh, loose, spoonable relish that sits on the table beside almost everything — empanadas, sancocho, arepas, grilled meat — and every household makes it slightly differently. The Bogotá version adds chopped egg and, in avocado season, avocado.
  2. Mince the chillies with their seeds; the seeds and the pale internal ribs carry most of the heat and Colombian ají is meant to be hot. Wash your hands afterwards and do not touch your face.
  3. Dice the onion as finely as you can — 2 mm is the target — and put it in a bowl with the lime juice, vinegar, water and salt. Let it sit 15 minutes. This slackens the raw bite of the onion and starts the ají curing, which is why it tastes better after an hour than it does immediately.
  4. Add the chillies, cilantro and spring onion and stir. Add the oil last and stir again; the oil is there to carry the chilli heat and to keep the herbs from browning, not to make a dressing, so keep it to the single tablespoon.
  5. Fold in the avocado and the chopped egg at the very end, gently, so the avocado stays in cubes rather than turning to a cream.
  6. Let it stand 30 minutes at room temperature before serving. Without the avocado and egg it keeps a week in a jar in the refrigerator and improves for the first three days; with them, eat it the same day.
  7. Substitutions: 6 red bird's-eye chillies (about 30 g) can stand in for the ají pique.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.