In Venezuelan cuisine, an hallaca (alt. spelling, "hayaca") typically involves a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, capers, raisins, and olives wrapped in maize (cornmeal dough), bound with string within plantain leaves, and boiled or steamed afterwards.
I know that sounds like a lot of crazy ingredients but they're really good. It's pretty much a somewhat soft corn dough outside and it has beef, pork, chicken and all that stuff listed up there. They tend to vary in different parts of the country and even between families, but they're delicious.
My mom and I are making them today with beef only, adding the olives and the raisins. We're making a few with chicken in a few days, I think.
Now, in Venezuela, this is a whole Christmas tradition. Usually the women of the family get together in the beginning of the december to make them to last all the way until january. It's a ton of work because you have to prepare the beef, pork or chicken, you have to clean out and pick the plantain leaves and then you have to assemble each hallaca, and keep in mind that some families make over a 100 in one day.
It is also very fun because all the family gets together and all. Eli and Abe's mom are coming today to see how we make them and all, which is cool because this is one thing I miss a lot. I'm gonna be tweeting the process and probably posting some pics from my blackberry to show you all!
Check it out here, to see what they look like.
No comments:
Post a Comment