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Venezuela

Arepas (cornmeal rolls)

Just like the other Latin American countries, corn is the basic food. Most dishes are accompanied by arepas, the Venezuelan people’s bread. It is like a tortilla, made of corn flour.

Tortilla (typical dish made of corn). Cheese, avocado or pork ham (depending on taste)
The tortillas are cooked directly on a griddle (the Mexican way). Then they are stuffed with cheese, meat, ham, avocado, sauce or egg.
Cachapa (corn-based pancake)

It is similar to the pancake.

Corn, water, sugar and cheese
It is usually warmed on a griddle and folded, inserting between the two sides white cheese.
Hallacas (cornmeal, meat and vegetables wrapped in plantain leaves)

Ingredients for the stew of 50 hallacas. The hallaca (or hayaca) is the traditional Christmas dish.

1 two-Kg hen 1/2 Kg of lard 2 Kg of tomatoes 5 to 6 medium-sized onions 6 cubes of hen stock powder2 to 3 sweet peppers 1/2 liter of water 1/4 cumin spoonful 2 1/2 Kg of piglet meat 1 spoonful of sugar 1/2 liter of sweet wine pepper to tasteGarnish 1 medium-sized flask of stuffed olives 1/4 Kg of raisins 1 medium-sized flask of caper Ingredients for the pastry3 Kg of crushed white corn 1 Kg of lard 1 spoonful of annatto seeds 4 cubes of hen stock powder
Preparation of the stew Melt the lard and brown the chicken cut into pieces. Separately, crush the tomato, onions, 2 hen-stock cubes, garlic and paprika. Mix with the water. Put the cumin on the fire and boil until the hen is tender. Retire the hen. In that same stew, add the piglet in small pieces, 4 hen-stock cubes, the sugar, the wine and pepper to taste. Allow cooking until you think it is ready. Bone the hen and set it aside. Preparation of the batterBoil the corn until cooking but don’t let it get too soft. Melt the piglet lard and fry the annatto seeds, then strain it. Grind the corn and knead it with the shortening and the annatto. Prepare a broth with the cubes and add it to the batter so that it gets soft. In each big leaf, place a ball of batter. Spreading it with your hands moist, pour in the center a ladle of stew, a piece of hen, 2 olives, five raisins and capers, and proceed as described above.