{"id":31351,"date":"2017-10-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.besabine.com\/a-typical-colombian-recipe-ajiaco\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T17:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:20:02","slug":"a-typical-colombian-recipe-ajiaco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.besabine.com\/en\/a-typical-colombian-recipe-ajiaco\/","title":{"rendered":"A typical Colombian recipe: ajiaco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colombian cuisine is versatile and consists of delicious dishes, often made with beans, potatoes and flour. Every region is characterized by typical dishes, and in Bogot\u00e1, too, they have great food. Not only is the hot chocolate with cheese<\/strong><\/a> immensely popular, the typical Bogotan soup ajiaco (pronounced ag-ie-ako) is also widely eaten. Ajiaco can be made in many ways and is particularly delicious. Traditionally, this soup is not vegetarian or vegan, but it is very easy to make it this way. Here you will find the recipe for the vegan version of ajiaco, but for fans, I have also included how to make it traditionally. Have fun cooking!<\/p>\n

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Bogotan ajiaco<\/h2>\n

Ajiaco is eaten in many shapes and sizes, and also exists in Chile and Cuba, among other countries, where the recipe is slightly different. Traditionally, however, ajiaco is a typical Bogot\u00e1 dish. Bogotan ajiaco, also called ajiaco santafere\u00f1o (because of Bogot\u00e1’s former name: Santa Fe de Bogot\u00e1), is a thick and well-filled meal soup made of chicken, corn cobs and several types of potatoes, among other ingredients. However, the fundamental component of ajiaco is the herb guasca.<\/p>\n

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Guasca: the fundamental ingredient for ajiaco<\/h2>\n

Without guasca no ajiaco, is the motto. And that’s actually true. In fact, this herb gives the ajiaco that deliciously specific flavor. Guasca comes from the plant Galinsoga parviflora, called potato weed in English. The plant is native to Central America, but also grows in other countries, namely as a persistent weed in (kitchen) gardens and on arable land. It grows about 20 to 70 cm tall and grows between June and November. Now there is one small problem: the herb guasca is almost impossible to find in stores in Europe and US. Try a toko or possibly over the Internet. Easier to look around the garden and just pick the potato weed fresh. It sounds a little strange, but this herb can be used for many culinary purposes. Besides ajiaco, you can also add it to salads, make it into pesto, co-blend it into vegetable juices and add it to soups and pasta sauces.<\/p>\n

If you cannot find it in both the store, on the Internet and among the weeds, replace the guasca with another herb. Although the taste of guasca is very specific and actually not comparable to any other herb, you can try it with bay leaf, parsley, cilantro or celery.<\/p>\n

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And then the potatoes<\/h2>\n

Potatoes are also essential in the ajiaco. The main type of potato used in the soup is papa criolla<\/em>, a small, golden and firm-boiling potato. Which is therefore not so easy to find outside Colombia. The two other potatoes are varieties from the region, called papa pastusa<\/em> and papa sabanera<\/em>. Of course, you can ask at the greengrocer’s for what looks like this, but they probably don’t know these varieties there either. So to make it as easy as possible, the advice is: choose at least two types of potatoes for in the ajiaco, may also be three. At least one of these potatoes must be firm-boiling and at least one must be floury. And then the soup will be all right!<\/p>\n\n\t\t