Chairo (Andean Lamb and Barley Soup)
A thick, deeply nourishing highland soup from Puno, built from slow-cooked lamb, chewy pearl barley, freeze-dried chuño and a handful of root vegetables. It's the kind of soup the Altiplano cold calls for: rustic, warming and full of flavour.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Soak the chuño
If you have not already, soak the in cold water overnight so it softens and swells. Drain it, peel off any dark loose skin, rinse well and set aside; it will finish cooking in the soup.
- 80 g dried
✅ Done when: chuño is soft and swollen, with loose dark skin removed
Brown the lamb
Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot (at least 5 to 6 litres) over high heat and sear the lamb in batches, about 8 to 10 minutes per batch, until deep golden brown on all sides, then remove and set aside.
- 800 g lamb
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- to taste salt and pepper
✅ Done when: lamb is deep golden brown on all sides
Build the base
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Simmer the lamb
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Add potatoes and carrot
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Finish the vegetables
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Season and serve
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Soak the chuño
If you have not already, soak the in cold water overnight so it softens and swells. Drain it, peel off any dark loose skin, rinse well and set aside; it will finish cooking in the soup.
- 80 g dried
✅ Done when: chuño is soft and swollen, with loose dark skin removed
Brown the lamb
Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot (at least 5 to 6 litres) over high heat and sear the lamb in batches, about 8 to 10 minutes per batch, until deep golden brown on all sides, then remove and set aside.
- 800 g lamb
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- to taste salt and pepper
✅ Done when: lamb is deep golden brown on all sides
Build the base
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Simmer the lamb
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Add potatoes and carrot
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Finish the vegetables
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Season and serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Chairo belongs to the high, cold plains around Lake Titicaca, where Aymara and Quechua communities have long relied on chuño, potatoes freeze-dried through repeated freezing and sun-drying, to survive the harshest months. Barley arrived with the Spanish but was quickly folded into Andean cooking, pairing naturally with native potatoes and highland herbs.
The soup is built to feed and warm people through bitterly cold nights at altitude, and it remains a staple of family tables and market stalls in Puno and across the southern highlands.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Chairo is prized for being filling, warming and resourceful, turning humble preserved and root ingredients into a soup rich enough to be a full meal on its own.
💡 Fun Fact
Chuño, the freeze-dried potato at the heart of this soup, is one of the oldest food preservation techniques in the world, developed in the Andes long before refrigeration existed.
Puno, Peruvian Altiplano
-15.84°S, -70.02°W
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