Fancy a Lawsuit for Lunch?

Cause rellena de atun

Lucy and Anil were over recently – they have just got engaged so we wanted to do something special. London has also been doing something special lately – the sun has been shining. Given the occasions conspired; Blancs pulled out the sunny recipes from a sunnier clime – Peru …



Causa is Spanish for “cause” or “lawsuit”. To be honest I don’t believe that either of these are very meaningful translations of the name, but let’s move on. A good lawsuit is generally served cold for lunch (that’s justice for you). The basics are pretty simple and once you get it, you can stuff with whatever takes your fancy.

La Causa:
- Potatoes for mashing (mature, floury are best)
- Aji Amarillo
- Oil
- Salt and pepper

Stuffing:
- Avocado
- Tuna
- Mayonnaise

Cook the potatoes and mash. It is best to keep them fairly dry so you could boil with the skins on and subsequently peel as I’ve mentioned before regarding gnocchi. Cool the mash. Mix in the Aji Amarillo to suit your flavour or courage. Mix tuna and mayo in order to form a good mixture constituency.

Aji amarillo (Capsicum Annuum) is the most used chilli in Peru. It is a hot, yellow chilli pepper native to the Andes. It is said to retain its citrus flavour, which I think I agree with (either way, I wouldn't argue with a chilli). To those of you living in London; the only thing more dangerous than eating aji amarillo is buying it. Blancs and I go to Amazonas, a great little Peruvian shopping centre at 206 Old Kent Road, Elephant and Castle, SE1 5TY. When I say shopping centre I should make this clear – they would normally be just one shop, but it appears that the owners have managed to squeeze two shops and two restaurants into the space. It is a great trip and we have it from a reliable source that it’s the best place to buy authentic Peruvian food in London. We went for the shopping and stayed for the food. Blancs stayed longer to get some recipe recommendations from the owner (or robber) of one of the little restaurants.

To mould: Cover the bottom of a small mould with a ball of the potato. Note: it is good to line the mould with cling film to make the release easier. Layer tuna on top. Next causa and another tuna layer. Finally causa with avocado layer. Refrigerate for approximately 1 ½ hours. Release from mould and serve with avocado on the plate side.

We served the causa with endives, samphire and orange sections with a balsamic dressing.