Hallaca — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

An elaborate banana-leaf-wrapped corn dough parcel stuffed with a rich beef and chicken stew, olives, capers, and raisins — the crown jewel of Venezuelan Christmas.

Ingredients

4 cups pre-cooked corn flour (masarepa)
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup annatto oil
500g beef stew meat, diced small
500g chicken breast, diced
2 onions, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup capers
1/2 cup green olives
1/2 cup raisins
2 tsp cumin
Banana leaves
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1 Make annatto oil by heating oil with annatto seeds, then strain.
2 Mix corn flour with warm broth and annatto oil to form a smooth, pliable dough. Rest 30 min.
3 Sauté onion, garlic, bell pepper. Add beef and chicken, cook until browned. Add cumin, salt, pepper. Simmer with broth until tender.
4 Soften banana leaves over an open flame or in hot water.
5 Spread dough on a banana leaf square. Add stew filling, olives, capers, and raisins.
6 Fold into a tight rectangular package and tie with twine. Boil in salted water for 1 hour.

Did You Know?

Making hallacas is a sacred Venezuelan family ritual — the entire extended family gathers for a full-day hallaca assembly line called the hallacazo.