Product Code Database
Hallaca (, ) is a traditional Venezuelan dish. Its origin is indigenous, but , , , and sometimes bits of bacon were added in the 16th Century and after by settlers from the Iberian peninsula. Hallaca consists of corn dough stuffed with a stew of beef, pork, or chicken and other ingredients such as , , and , fresh onion rings, red and green bell pepper slices. There are vegetarian hallacas, made with black beans or tofu. Hallacas are folded in plantain leaves, tied with strings, and boiled. The dish is traditionally served during the Christmas season and has several regional variants. It has been described as a national dish of Venezuela. Some speculate it originated from the Orinoquia. Characteristic of the hallaca is the delicate corn dough made with consommé or broth, and lard colored with annatto. Hallacas are also commonly eaten in eastern Cuba,Garth, Hanna 2013 Food and Identity in the Caribbean. London: Bloomsbury. Trinidad where it is called Pasteles, and parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Aruba, and Curaçao.
In Aruba and Curaçao, two islands just off the coast of Falcón state, Venezuela, it is called 'ayaca' or 'ayaka'. The ingredients are pork and chicken stew, or pork or chicken stew, capers, raisins, cashew nuts, bellpepper, pickled baby onions, prunes, and olives. The dough is made from white cornmeal, and the ayaca leaves first spread with lard or oil. Cooked meat and other ingredients are then wrapped in ayaca leaves, tied with string and then boiled for about two hours. Flavors in the ayaca vary from family to family, and some add very hot Madam Jeanette peppers.
In Puerto Rican cuisine the dish is called hayaca and used to be a popular part of the island's cuisine. Unlike the Venezuelan variety, hayacas from Puerto Rico are made not with maize but with cassava, stock, milk, pork fat cooked with annatto, and banana leaf, and baked in traditional open-wood-fire. They are typically filled with diced pork butt braised with sofrito, annatto oil (olive oil or lard), olives, capers, chickpeas, raisins, and spices. The liquid is then strained into the masa. Because of the long and elaborate process and skills that it takes to prepare, the hayaca is now rarely available, but is still found, mostly in coastal, family-owned restaurants and other small establishments known as "kioscos" where there are still strong ties to native heritage and classic slow-cooking skills.
The corn dough is similar to a standard arepas dough. Pork fat is melted down with annatto to add color. Corn flour is kneaded together with broth and some soft butter and the cooled pork fat mixture is incorporated to make a soft dough with a golden color. A large Cooking banana leaf is greased with vegetable oil and the dough is flattened on the leaf to about a quarter inch thickness . The guiso filling is topped with a combination of onion, pepper, parsley, potatoes, raisins, almonds, chickpeas, capers, green olives, hard boiled eggs and bacon. The leaf is tied and boiled at a low heat.
Hallaca can be made in advance and frozen.
Families usually gather in the morning to prepare the ingredients.
For instance, the hallaca has a singular type of filling and utilizes Cooking banana leaves as its wrapper, whereas tamales can have a variety of fillings and can be wrapped in or plantain leaves. Additionally, tamales can be both sweet and savory, while the hallaca is mainly a savory dish.
Venezuelan intellectual Arturo Uslar Pietri pointed out that the history of several centuries of Venezuela can be found reflected in the hallaca. According to Uslar Pietri, the hallaca is a complex dish with an equally intricate origin, merging influences from various cultures.
Venezuelan writer and historian Francisco Herrera Luque once remarked that comparing the robust hallaca with the tamale is like comparing a llama with a camel. While there are superficial similarities between the hallaca and the tamale, and both dishes reflect the rich history and diversity of their respective cultures, the hallaca is a unique dish with its own history, tradition, and cultural significance in Venezuela. Comparing it to the tamale, though common, is seen by many Venezuelans and culinary experts as an oversimplification.
|
|
