Aji Panca Paste

Aji panca (Capsicum chinense, sun-dried red Capsicum chinense, distinct from the yellow aji amarillo and its dried form mirasol) is the Inca-era smoke-cured chili of the central Andes. The dish's roots are pre-Columbian Andean skewers (originally llama); beef heart entered only after the Spanish introduced cattle, with Afro-Peruvian cooks turning the discarded offal into the panca-, vinegar-, garlic-, and cumin-marinated skewers that became Lima street food.

Doña Grimanesa Vargas's anticucho cart on Calle Atahualpa, Miraflores — open since 1976 — uses a panca marinade aged 24 hours minimum with a splash of red chicha de jora. She sold the cart to her family in 2011 to open a brick-and-mortar; the recipe didn't change.

Deep brick-red, sticky, almost prune-like in aroma. Heat barely 1,000-1,500 SHU — kids eat it. Tastes of dried fruit, cocoa nib, woodsmoke. Smeared on grilling meat it caramelizes into a black crust.

Toast the dried pods 30 sec in a dry pan to wake the smoke compounds, then soak in hot water 20 min. Blend with the soaking liquor, garlic, oil — the pectin in the pod walls gives it the cling needed to coat skewered meat.