Hallaca (Venezuelan Stuffed Corn Dough)
Serves 20 hallacas Time 2 days including advance preparation Ingredients 42 Steps 36
Hallaca (pronounced ah-YA-kah) is the main Venezuelan Christmas dinner dish. It was created by the slaves during the colony times, who put the left-overs of their masters' Christmas festivities in a bit of cornmeal dough, wrapped this with banana leaves and cooked to mix the flavors. As many things in Venezuela, the hallaca has the influence of three cultures: the white one (European ingredients like raisins, nuts…
Ingredients
Dough
- Olive oil
- 1 tsp annatto seeds (also called "achiote" or "onoto")
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 4 white onions, sliced
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 mushroom stock cube
- 1 tsp marmite
- 2 leeks, green and white parts cut in 1-inch chunks
- 1 large bunch of fresh herbs (coriander leaf, thyme, parsley, celery)
- 2 packets of spring onions, chopped
- 1 head of garlic, halved
- 1 jar of green olives
- 1 jar of capers
- 1 kg instant polenta meal (coarse corn meal)
- 500 g cooked and mashed new potatoes
Fillings
- Olive oil
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 6 Brussels sprouts, shredded
- 1 handful of green beans, chopped
- 100 g mixed vine fruit
- Cooking wine
- 20 prunes
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 1 jar of mixed pickles in mustard sauce
- 50 g almonds
- 1 can of mock duck or 1 packet of marinated tofu pieces
- 1 can of artichoke hearts
- 1 can of asparagus
Sauce
- Olive oil
- 2 red onions, sliced
- 1 leek, white part chopped
- 1 packet of mi-cuit (half dried) tomatoes or 1 tube of tomato paste
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 green bell peppers
- Soy sauce
- Chili sauce
- Ground cumin
- Cooking wine (optional)
- Wheat flour or cornstarch
Steps
Leaves
- Wipe banana leaves with damp cloth.
- Heat leaves over flame (gas cooker, camping fire, etc) until softer and darker, with smoky smell.
- Cut off hard rim without shredding leaves. Cut into 30 cm segments along transversal veins.
Dough
- Warm 5 tsp olive oil with annatto seeds in small pan over very low heat, 20 minutes, until oil turns red. Strain out seeds.
- Meanwhile, fry cumin, black pepper and coriander seeds in 2–3 tsp olive oil in deep pan.
- Add white onion, 5 cups boiling water, stock cubes, Marmite, chunked leeks, fresh herbs, three-quarters of the chopped spring onions and garlic head.
- Simmer broth 15 minutes.
- Liquidise pot contents in food processor. Strain well; keep liquid, discard solids.
- Put broth in large bowl. Add annatto oil and liquid from olive and caper jars.
- Stir in polenta meal, 1 cup at a time, until smooth dough.
- Mix in mashed potatoes.
- Test dough: wrap 1 tsp dough in small segment of banana leaf, then aluminum foil. Boil in water 15 minutes. Dough is ready if it keeps the leaf package shape. If it crumbles or dissolves half in water, add more polenta meal. If rock hard, add more water. Adjust salt.
Fillings
- Rub olive oil on 2 red bell peppers. Grill all over to char skin.
- Remove skin and seeds. Cut into 1 cm-wide strips. Set aside in small bowl.
- Combine carrot, Brussels sprout and green beans. Set aside in small bowl.
- Soak vine fruit in cooking wine or replacement. Set aside in small bowl.
- Soak prunes in cooking wine or replacement. Set aside in small bowl.
- Drain chickpeas. Set aside in small bowl.
- Set pickles aside in small bowl.
- Blanch and toast almonds. Set aside in small bowl.
- Drain mock duck and chop into 1 cm cubes. Set aside in small bowl.
- Put olives in small bowl.
- Put capers in small bowl.
- Drain artichoke hearts and cut in quarters. Set aside in small bowl.
- Drain asparagus. Put on plate.
Sauce
- Quickly stir-fry red onion, chopped leek and remaining chopped spring onions.
- Liquidise tomatoes and peppers in food processor. Add to onions and leek. Stir 1 minute.
- Add soy sauce, chili sauce and ground cumin. Add cooking wine if desired. Simmer 1 minute.
- Add flour to thicken. Set sauce aside in bowl.
- Cut 35 cm piece of aluminum foil. Put on table. Cover with banana leaf, transversal veins along horizontal axis.
- Rub oil on leaf. Put a bit more than half a ladle of dough in centre. Spread with spoon into 14 cm circle.
- Put 1 tsp sauce in middle. Add 1½ tsp shredded vegetables over sauce. Add 2 olives and 2 capers, one on each corner of dough. Place remaining fillings collage-style: 1 tsp vine fruit, 1 prune, 2 tsp pickles, 1 tsp chickpeas, 3 cubes mock duck, 1 asparagus, 2 strips grilled pepper, some parsley leaves.
- Wrap filling in banana leaf (not against the veins). Fold foil to seal ends of leaf packet, then wrap whole packet. Tie with kitchen string. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Boil hallacas in covered pot of water, 20–30 minutes. Work in batches if needed.
- Drain hallacas. Cool 10 hours. Store in fridge or freezer if desired.
- Reheat in boiling water, simmering 10 minutes.
Notes from the original
- Hallaca tastes better once it has cooled.
- The banana leaves are not intended to be eaten; they are just for cooking!
- You can replace the carrots, brussels sprouts, and green beans with a similar combination of vegetables.
- For overseas expatriates and daring cooks, you can replace the banana leaves with 20x30cm piece of strong aluminium foil.
- For a more old-fashioned meat filling, you can add a whole leg of pork or 2–3 roasting hens.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Hallaca (Venezuelan Stuffed Corn Dough)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-09-01, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Hallacabaq.jpg by Jdvillalobos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.