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Hallaca is a Venezuelan dish made from corn dough with a blend of meat fillings wrapped in plantain or banana leaves. It is similar to tamales and empanadas and is traditionally made during Christmas. The dish originated from slave food and is time-consuming to prepare.
Hallaca is a Venezuelan dish made from maize or corn dough, with a blend of different types of meat as a filling. It is then wrapped in plantain or banana leaves in individual pieces. This dish is very similar to “tamales” and “empanada”, both Hispanic dishes that also have fillings inside pieces of dough. Hallaca can alternatively be spelled “hayaca” and is also considered part of Mexican cuisine.
There are many explanations for how Hallaca came to be. According to one story, Hallaca originated as slave food during the colonial times of Venezuela. During Christmas celebrations, landowners and plantation owners fed their slaves and workers leftover holiday meals. In turn, the slaves ingeniously blended the leftovers and made them into a filling within the cornmeal paste, ultimately creating the hayaca.
Other sources have also mentioned how foreign slaves would repeatedly say “alla” and “aca”, translated as “there” and “here”, pointing to their master’s dish and their own corn cakes, suggesting that the master would give them food to make their corn cakes more appetizing. The combination of the two words became the name of the dish: hallaca. Other accounts claim that hayaca actually originated from tamales, a dish whose roots date back as far as the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.
Preparing and cooking hallacas is usually time consuming, so they are typically made in large quantities that can last for several days of festivities. Cornmeal dough is usually made by first heating annatto seeds in a little olive oil until the oil turns red. In a separate pan, spices such as pepper, coriander seeds, garlic and onions are fried and boiled to make a vegetable stock. The annatto seeds and vegetable stock are then combined and strained to avoid a thick slurry. The cornmeal is then added and gradually mixed in until the dough is soft but firm enough to hold its shape.
The meat used for the filling usually includes beef, chicken and pork, all stewed together with other ingredients such as olives, capers and raisins. Peppers, chickpeas and walnuts can also be added to create a chunky texture. The dough is then spread over banana pieces or banana leaves, and a spoonful of meat filling is placed in the center. The finished allaca is then rolled up and wrapped inside the leaf, secured by tying a string around it. Hallacas are boiled or steamed before being eaten and served.
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