Chairito Pereira Sopa de Chairo Paceño Mix, Bolivian Chairo Soup with Chuño, 200g (5 Servings)

Chairo paceño is Andean cooking at its most honest. It comes out of the altiplano, where freeze-dried potato, hulled corn and cracked wheat kept households through the cold months, and it is still what people in La Paz eat when the weather turns. The broth ends up thick and earthy, somewhere between a soup and a stew, with the chuño giving it a flavor nothing else quite replaces.

Assembling the grains for chairo means tracking down chuño, maíz pelado, trigo mote and dried broad beans separately, which is the part that keeps most people from making it outside Bolivia. Industrias Pereira, producing since 1967, puts all of it in one 200g sachet along with the dried carrot, celery, beet, onion, bean and pepper the recipe calls for. No artificial colors and no preservatives.

How to prepare it
Soak the dried grains for 12 hours before you cook. Bring 2 liters of water to a boil, add the grains and the seasoning powder, then simmer over low heat until the grains are tender and the soup has thickened to your liking. Add your beef at the end and serve. Pereira suggests adding chunks of beef before boiling if you want the meat to carry more of the broth.

Serve it the traditional way: with plenty of chopped parsley or quilquiña on top and llajua alongside.

Net weight: 200g. Yield: 5 servings. Origin: Bolivia.
Contains: Wheat.