RECIPES: Venezuelan Hallacas - Hallacas Venezolanas

2 years ago, I wanted to make Hallacas, which is a typical Christmas dish in Venezuela. It is family, it is Christmas time, it is happiness. Since it had been such a long, long time that I've been back to Venezuela I haven't had the opportunity to eat an authentic Hallacas. Of course, I have had others, but they are not like my mom's Hallacas. There is a typical saying in Venezuela. "Las mejores son de mi mama" (the best are by my mom) which is true.

So 3 silly geese and one gander decided to do Hallacas. This is a 2 day event and the amount of ingredients is huge. You really need to have a good kitchen to cook and a couple of gooses to help you!


Here are the videos for you to see how it looks:

Video one:


Video 2:




Plus the most important part the RECIPE:

Mami's Hallacas - Venezuelan Christmas dish.

Buy the ingredients the day before cooking.

Ingredients:

1 pound of beefsteak (black skirt)
1 pound of pork steak
200 grams - 7 ounces of bacon (the fat of the pig without the skin)
1 big leek
1 plant of green onion
1 pound of white onions
1 pound of red bell peppers
4 cloves of garlic
20 sweet peppers (yellows, red, green)
black pepper in grains
white pepper in grains
cumin
dry oregano
1 leaf of laurel
1 cube of chicken bullion
1 liter of corn oil
1 liter of red cooking wine
1 bottle 150 cc of worcestershire sauce
1 bottle of 250 grams - 8 ounces of mustard pickle
1 bottle of 150 grams of green olive with red pepper inside
1 bottle of 150 grams of alcaparras - capers
1 small box of raisins
1 box of harina Pan
1 box of plantains leaves (smoked plantain leaves)
1 roll of white thread

Stew preparation

Cut the meat and the pork in squares.

Cut the bacon in squares and whiten by dropping on boiling water with salt for 10 minutes.

Start heating half liter of corn oil in a pan. Prepare all the ingredients: squish all together garlic, one spoon of black, white pepper and cumin. drop that in the pan with the oil and make sure that doesn't burn and get the pan out of the fire.

Cut in squares the white part of the leek, green onions, onions, sweet peppers, red pepper and put all these back with the oil and the rest of the ingredients. Put the pan back on flame and pour in the rest of the oil. Stir slowly with a wood spoon until the oil gets color and it has a smell. Lower the fire and let it cool it.

Carefully take the oil out of the pan. This oil will be used the next day to make the Hallacas. This oil will be used in the preparation of the dough and for the plantain leaves.

Put the pan back on the fire with the leftover oil and the ingredients sate. Add the meat cut in squares, stir everything while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients.

150 gram of the green olive with red pepper inside cut in squares.
150 grams of capers cut and squished.
150 grams of the pickle mustard cut in small squares

One cup of red cooking wine, half a cup of Worcester sauce, one spoon of dry oregano, one big leave of laurel.

Mix all the ingredients in the pan and let it cook for 2 hours or until the stew is ready. Be-careful that the stew does'nt get stuck to the bottom of the pan. The stew must have a delicious smell, heavy sauce, and taste not that sour, not that salty, not that sweet, but that a particular flavor of these 3. Take the pan out of the fire, let is cool off. Cover up and get it in the fridge until the next day. Make sure that the pan is not made of Aluminum. This will make the stew get more flavor and more consistency to prepare the Hallacas.

If during the time of cooking the stew, you observed that the stew is too dry, add one cup of hot water with a chicken bullion and added slowly and stir the stew. If the stew is too watery, take one cup of the liquid out of the pan and add one spoon of harina pan and add slowly and stir to make it thicker.



Preparation for the dough or harina pan.

(Prepare the dough the day that we are doing the Hallacas)

In a deep bowl put water, salt and the harina pan, stir with your hand until obtain a soft texture. Little by little add the oil from the night before until the dough gets a yellow color. Try the dough and if it needs more salt, add a little bit salt into a water cup and add the water little by little. The dough has to be soft but not liquid or hard.

Prepare the dough in 20 small ball like if you where going to do arepas.

40 plantain leaves clean and cut in rectangular shape. The size that is the most easy for you to work.
20 small leave to be the support of 20 cms of width by the length of the leave.
20 tread of 60 cm (one meter)
40 green olive with the bone
40 raising drunken in sweet wine of cooking
pieces of the beacon
slice of red pepper

To make the Hallacas


Put two leaves, one of top the other with the veins of the leave horizontal and the other vertical, like a crossword. oil the leave with the oil from the night before and get one ball and expand the ball most of the leave. put on top two full spoon of the stew, 2 olive, 2 raisins, 2 cube of beacon and 1 slice of red pepper. Fold the first leaf like an envelope, then the bottom leaf do the same. Put the tread underneath the leaves and tie the Hallaca like a Christmas present.


Cook the hallaca

In a deep pan, put water, salt and boil water. Place the Hallacas in the pan and cook for 30-40 minutes. After 30-40 minutes, take them out and serve. You can keep them in the freezer for the next day. Tust cook for 30 minutes.

Note 1: All the measurements are for reference. Don't forget that most important is the personal flavor.


Note 2: the sizes of the plantain leaves are approx. but make sure that the leaf is good enough so the stew or the dough goes out of the leave.

Note 3: when preparing the Hallaca take out the laurel leave.


Enjoy the incredible Hallacas. These can be served with red wine or beer. Plus, of course any other Christmas dishes Venezuela has.

Until next adventure and recipe from SillyGooseTravel.com