Venezuelan

Hallacas

The Venezuelan Christmas tradition

Hallacas are our Christmas tradition. I make them in stages, because they take a lot of work and several pairs of hands.

Video in Spanish on my YouTube channel.

Ingredients

As I list them in the video description.

Leaves

  • 3 packs of 50 hallaca (plantain) leaves

Filling stew

  • ½ kg bacon, finely diced
  • 1 ½ kg pork, in medium pieces
  • 2 kg beef, in medium pieces
  • 2 kg stewing hen, shredded
  • 3 chicken breasts for the garnish
  • 1 ½ kg onion, chopped
  • 800 g leek
  • 500 g green onion
  • 500 g sweet peppers (ají dulce)
  • 1 cup crushed garlic
  • 700 g red bell pepper
  • 700 g green bell pepper
  • 1 cup pickles in vinaigrette
  • 3 heaping tbsp mustard
  • 1 cup capers, desalted (optional)
  • 1 cup dissolved papelón (raw cane sugar)
  • 2 or 3 cups red wine
  • 1 bottle (145 cc) Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 heaping tbsp paprika
  • 2 heaping tbsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 7 tbsp salt
  • 1 l chicken stock
  • 1 cup P.A.N. corn flour if needed

Dough

  • 1 kg P.A.N. precooked corn flour
  • 1 ½ l stock
  • 1 cup annatto oil
  • 1 cup blended onion-oil sofrito

Garnishes

  • Olives, raisins, capers
  • Bell pepper strips and onion rings
  • Shredded chicken

How it's made, in short

  1. Wash and sort the leaves by size, and freeze them until the day before.
  2. Simmer the chicken and hen separately with vegetables; save the stock.
  3. Make the stew: render the bacon, cook the pork and beef, then add annatto, vegetables, hen, stock and seasonings.
  4. Make the dough with corn flour, warm stock, annatto oil and onion sofrito, and shape it into balls.
  5. Spread the dough on a leaf, fill with stew and garnishes, wrap, tie and boil about 45 minutes.

Watch the video to see every step.

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