Inchicapi de gallina loretano

Start the hen stock.Place the 1500 g hen with 200 g pumpkin and 2500 ml of the 2800 ml measured water in a large pot; bring to simmer, skim and cook for 90 minutes. The bird starts to loosen at the joints and the broth is fragrant. The thickest poultry pieces must reach 74 °C before serving.

Prepare the peanut thickener.Grind 220 g raw clean peanuts into a fine paste, then blend with 105 g maize flour, 150 g onion, 80 g sweet pepper, 20 g garlic, 35 g sacha culantro and the reserved 300 ml cold water. The mixture is pourable, without dry flour pockets or large peanut pieces. Use peanuts without signs of mould; keep utensils for raw hen separate.

Cook the yuca in broth.Add all 620 g de-cored yuca to the hen broth and simmer for 20 minutes. The cassava can be easily pierced and has no hard chalky middle. Cassava must be cooked completely; discard the woody core.

Thicken with peanuts and maize.Stir the cold peanut-corn mixture into the gently simmering soup in a thin stream and cook for 15 minutes, stirring the bottom frequently. The soup thickens to a loose spoon-coating consistency, with no raw starch flavour. Peanuts and flour must be heated through and stirred to prevent scorching.

Finish with oregano and salt.Add 3 g oregano and 11 g salt; stir and cook 5 more minutes. The broth is smooth enough to ladle yet holds small yuca and hen pieces.

Portion thick soup.Divide the hen and yuca evenly among six bowls, then ladle the hot peanut-thickened soup over them. Every bowl has a whole hen serving and a thick but fluid broth. Warn diners about poultry bones.