A pre-Columbian Amazonian soup from the Loreto and San Martín regions, with a base recipe traced to the Lamista Quechua people. The name comes from Quechua: inchik (peanut) + api (thick soup). Peanuts are native to South America; the dish is one of the few mestizo soups where the indigenous ingredient stayed dominant rather than being displaced by European staples after contact.
Pre-Columbian Amazon soup from Loreto and San Martín, traced to the Lamista Quechua — name is Quechua inchik (peanut) plus api (thick soup). One of the few mestizo soups where the Indigenous ingredient stayed dominant. Sacha culantro goes in off-heat or it turns bitter.
A thick ochre-yellow soup, stiff enough that the spoon stands up briefly. Ground peanut and corn flour give it body; chunks of yuca and bone-in chicken sit at the bottom. Sacha culantro (a flat-leafed Amazonian relative of cilantro, more pungent) cuts the richness. Served as a first course in a deep bowl; you eat the broth first, then dig for the chicken.
The peanut is roasted, then ground with corn flour and a little water into a paste before going into the broth — raw peanut won't release its oils and the soup stays thin. Yuca is non-negotiable as the starch: potato turns to mush in the long simmer, yuca holds shape. Sacha culantro is added off-heat at the end; cooked in, it goes bitter. If a version tastes only nutty without the green-pungent top note, the herb went in too early.
Variations
Lamista Quechua original (the pure version, peanut-yuca-chicken); Iquitos-style (looser, more broth); inchicapi de gallina criolla (with native chicken); Tarapoto restaurants serve it as a starter; Schiaffino's Ámaz refines it with house-roasted peanuts ground tableside.
On the Palate
Where Inchicapi sits in the Peruvian flavor cloud
Ingredients
How it's made
5 steps · 1 hour 30 min
- 121 min
Boil chicken with garlic and onion until tender.
- 213 min
Blend peanuts with water to create a smooth paste.
Watch outRoast the peanuts first, then grind to a smooth paste — raw or coarse peanut won't give up its oil and the soup stays thin and watery.
- 313 min
Add peanut paste, chopped yuca, and corn to the chicken broth.
- 439 min
Simmer until the yuca is soft and the flavors meld together.
Watch outSimmer until a yuca chunk crushes easily against the pot but still holds its shape — potato would fall apart, yuca should stay whole.
- 55 min
Finish by adding sacha culantro, cilantro, and aji charapita, then season with salt.
Watch outStir the sacha culantro in off the heat at the very end — cook it and the green pungent top note turns bitter; if it only tastes nutty, the herb went in too early.
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