Hispanic Heritage · Chile

El Norte

Arica · Putre · Socoroma · Codpa · Azapa · Iquique

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Calapurca de olla

Descubre

Northern Chile’s calapurca introduces an Andean combination of corn, potatoes, meat, and aromatic seasoning. This version adapts the dish to a household pot, keeping its hearty texture at the center.

La Gente

Longer-cooking ingredients establish the base before the final seasoning. Cumin, oregano, and chile supply distinct notes, so taste as the pot develops. The result is a substantial bowl made for slow eating.

Sabor

The north cooks Andean: cumin, oregano, garlic, and ají de color, with the rocoto bringing real heat and the charqui bringing salt and smoke. Corn and potato carry it. The oregano of Socoroma is the herb the region is known for, and this is one page where the jar on the shelf is closer to home than usual.

Spice DNA · Heat medium · Herb high · Smoke medium · Sweet low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the pot from the start. Adds a savory garlic base.
Oregano, whole. The north's herb. Socoroma grows its own; ours is honest company.
Cumin, ground. In the calapurca and on the charqui.
Paprika. Ají de color, for the warmth and the red.
Crushed Red Pepper. For the rocoto's heat when there is no rocoto. The north would want a rocoto.
Black Pepper, ground. In the pot.
Onion Powder. With the fresh onion.

From your market: beef shank or lamb shoulder on the bone, dried hominy corn (mote; canned works), potatoes, a carrot, onion, a rocoto or a red bell pepper with extra chile, and if a Bolivian or Peruvian market is near you, chuño, the freeze-dried potato of the altiplano, which is not required and is missed. Badia does not sell the stones. The stove is a fair substitute and a nortina would say so, with reservations.

Cocina

Calapurca de olla

The altiplano's fiesta soup, from the stove instead of the stones. Made the night before, eaten at first light, or on any cold evening in a house that misses the north.

Serves 8

2 lb beef shank or lamb shoulder, bone in, cut in chunks
12 cups water
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 5 garlic cloves crushed
1 onion, chopped
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
1½ tsp Badia Cumin, ground
1 tbsp Badia Oregano, whole
1 tsp Badia Paprika
½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
1 rocoto, seeded and minced, or 1 red bell pepper minced with 1 tsp Badia Crushed Red Pepper
2 cups cooked mote (hominy), drained
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
1 carrot, sliced
½ cup chuño, soaked and squeezed, optional
Salt
Cilantro or fresh oregano for the top

The meat. Cover the meat with the water, bring to a boil, and skim. Add the garlic, onion, onion powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, and pepper. Simmer, partly covered, 1½ to 2 hours, until the meat pulls from the bone.
The heat. Add the rocoto or the pepper and chile. Simmer 10 minutes. Taste. The broth should be warm on the tongue, not punishing. Adjust.
The corn and potatoes. Add the mote, potatoes, carrot, and chuño if using. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the broth has thickened from them. Salt.
Rest it. The calapurca is better after it has sat overnight in the pot, which on the altiplano it always has. Reheat slowly.
Serve in deep bowls, a piece of meat in each, a little fresh oregano or cilantro on top, and bread. At dawn if you can manage it. After a night of dancing if you can manage that.

Pueblos del Norte

Arica · Putre · Socoroma · Codpa · Azapa · Iquique · Alto Hospicio · Pica · Pozo Almonte · Colchane · Antofagasta · Calama · Chiu Chiu · San Pedro de Atacama · Mejillones · Tocopilla · Copiapó · Vallenar · La Serena · Coquimbo · Ovalle · Vicuña · Pisco Elqui