The Cachapa: another work of God manifested in corn

With cheese, with Pernil, with guayanés, on the morning or after the party. Of all the ways and means cachapa is simply a divinity for Venezuelan people, is undoubtedly God talking to you through the meal, we leave you here the recipe.

Cachapa (Photo: Hoy Qué Hay)

How to make a Cachapa:
Ingredients (8 to 10 Cachapas)
4 cups of fresh corn kernels (*)
3 teaspoons of salt
¾ cup of sugar
¾ -1 cup of water (depending if the corn is more or less tender).
(* ) Some 6-8 large corncobs, about 3 cups alreay milled (The dough can be mixed with pre-cooked flour for Cachapas but fresh corncobs gives a special flavor to the dish that commercial flour can't).

Preparation:
Cut with a knife grains from the corncobs, without going very deep to avoid cutting the cob.
Beans are milled by a corn grinding mill not too tight. The dough should be a little thick and ordinary. In a large bowl mix that with salt, sugar and water. The mixture should have a thick consistency, but fluid enough so that when placed on the griddle be expanded by its own weight.
Is set to heat a griddle or skillet on the stove and once it gets hot over medium heat. The griddle is greased with oil absorbent paper each time you will make a cachapa and with a small spoon you pour into the griddle about ½ cup of the mixture, spreading it around with the spoon to form a pancake about 10 or 15 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick.

When bubbles form across the surface, flip with a spatula to cook the other side until golden. About 1 minute on each side. Served hot, stuffed with soft white cheese or yellow cheese and can be bathe with cream cheese.
They can be stored after cooling in the refrigerator for days. In this case can be heated to steam or fry 1-2 minutes per side in a little butter mixed with equal quantity of oil.

Bollos Pelones: A Refinement of Venezuela cuisine.

From cocina y vino we bring this excellent recipe for a traditional Venezuelan dish, Bollos Pelones:

 Buns Pelones (Photo : My - recipes ) 

 How to cook the Bollos Pelones:

 The recipe is to take corn dough between your hands and fill it in with a stew. It has become a typical Venezuelan dish still in the present various homes across the country, varying from state to state, meats that are based stews and spiced dough.

 Here is our proposal of Bollos Pelones:
 Ingredients:
 2 cups cornmeal
 1-½ cups of water
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of onotado oil

 For the stew:

 500g ground beef
3 sweet peppers
2 clove of garlic
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion
 ½ cup tomato puree
1 teaspoon of cumin
Salt and black pepper

 For the Sauce:
 6 red tomatoes
½ Paprika
 1 onion
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic
4 sweet peppers
1-cup of chicken or beef or both
 Salt and pepper

 Preparation:

 The dough is prepared by placing water into a container, adding the salt, and flour gradually while kneading the dough. After the dough is done add the Onotado oil and continue kneading until it turns into a bright orange color.

 The stew is prepared by first heating the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and then add the chopped sweet peppers and finally the meat / chickien then let it brown. Include tomato puree, a touch of salt, pepper and cumin. Cover and leave on low flame for 20 minutes.

 The sauce is done by simply blending all dry ingredients, pour them into a pan with oil, you add a cup of broth and then let it rest on low heat for about 20 minutes or until sauce thickens, season. Let it rest until cold.

 The buns are made by taking a ball of dough the size of a fist slightly less, crushed in the hand, hollow and a spoonful of the stew is placed gently closed, leaving it bake for 10 minutes in boiling water, each bun.

 To serve, are arranged on a plate buns, topped with sauce and, if desired, decorate dropping over finely chopped cilantro or parsley.

The Cocuy an iconic drink of the Venezuelan gastronomy, part II

Continuing with Cocuy as a Venezuelan export product, such as has Tequila for Mexico making National Flag for the Mexican gastronomy. We also believe that this product, currently with a clandestine production, and / or craft with peccary infrastructure, has not had the necessary encouragement.

 All this has caused the digging of the holed in places with no weather conditions, reason that producers combine the care taken for any hint of rain during the baking, because it could delay and even " astonish " process, thus losing all the work. After baking the cocuy the leaves are broken off pilarlas or taken to a rudimentary press to extract all possible guarapo, then they place it in pipes or drums (special brass barrels with a capacity of about 220 liters). Each pipe or Cuba as told, id filled with juice or guarapo of some 20 to 30 heads of cocuy, depending on the size, then you add water: when the juice is pure cocuy of pena you do not need to add anything but this does not yield much liquor and is very expensive in man hours / work, so they usually add to it sugar or brown sugar and molasses (if pure sugar liquor), this to accelerate the fermentation process, and to make it last longer. Once you have the exact point of fermentation, most of the time it's done literally with" eyes a guess. This must seems like wine it goes from about 5-7 degrees of alcohol, then you are ready for the next step which is boiling it in a Ollon. The Ollon is a big metallic pot with two holes at the top of the Ollon. In the upper hole you poor the wine and a paddle that is used to stir the contents that are inside, preventing solids to settle and burned, as this will ruin the taste of the drink.

 The first liquid that is extracted can be up to 80 degrees of alcohol, and is called pringote, is widely used for medicinal purposes. In distillation the drink gradually reduces its degrees of alcohol. The following Cocuy from the pringote has a range of 75, 70, 65 degrees and thus degenerates gradually until it becomes a liquid with few degrees of alcohol called Aguaza. Depending on the degree that it’s given to the cocuy and according to the mixture the Cocuy will be from first, second or third class, as appropriate. The elders say that the best cocuy was 7 × 8 (56 º) and it was for men, because to drinking cocuy at this degree you must have a foolproof throat, compare to the best wiski that is just above the 40 degrees of alcohol.

 To achieve high quality it is necessary that the final product contain at least 60 % of pure Cocuy and 40% from another component such as water, brown sugar or sugar, a rule from the Association of Craft Producers of Cocuy who chairs the new producer of the ruble Foncho Zalazar, plans to formalize the Municipality of Urdaneta entity protected by law to regulate artisanal cocuy production in the state. The mos recognized popultaions producers of cocuy are :Bobare, Tocuyo , Quíbor and Siquisique in Lara state. However, the most prized of Venezuela cocuy is made in Pecaya a small town of Falcon State, where artisan produce 200,000 liters / year. This cocuy has reached such a level of quality that has earned the second designation of origin granted in this country after the Chuao cocoa.

 Considering that each the plant Agave Cocuy pays only a bottle per plant, that this plant is not cultivated but develop in the wilderness each issue takes about seven years to reach maturation state, the Venezuelan government has created the " Agave program " in order to promote the use of this species in a sustainable manner. In the same order of ideas, the Government of Falcon state has declared it a “cultural heritage product of the region."
 "Putting the country we are, in the place we want." 

Editor : Antonio Pestana '

 apestana@iconosdevenezuela.com

 contacto@ecoalianza.com

The Cocuy an iconic drink of the Venezuelan gastronomy, part I

From the web page http://www.iconosdevenezuela.com/ we bring you this article about liquor that is made Agave cocui, enjoy: 

 Cocuy is the only Aguardiente (kind of alcoholic beverage) that is original from Simon’s Bolivar motherland, not even rum, but this drink with strong flavor. This is drink is made off the extraction of a plant of the Agave family, Agave Cocui. This plant grows on the states Lara and Falcon, Venezuela. The plantation of Agave (The same plant that is used to produce Tequila) must be harvest on the exact moment, that moment is exactly seven years after the first sow when the plant is about to give its fruits. After you pull out the leaves, the head is baked so the sugars get concentrated later on get fermented and distilled. Known for been a very strong drink (around the 56 alcoholic rate) is very common to be drink alone but you can also drink cocktails made out Cocui we recommend you to prepare Cocui with citric flavors. The history of Cocui, goes back to the origin of its plant, the Agave Cocui, this represents for our indigenous tribes a very important sustenance for their daily life. The infinite uses of this plant, from the production of pottery to the fermentation and production of a distilled with many benefits, even healing, may allow us to recognize its transcendence. Many historians have contribute in the research about the Venezuelan Cocuy, among them, Miguel Acosta Saiges, quotes priest Zaragoza, in his literary work “Estudios de Etnología Antigua de Venezuela, Caracas 1961, p. 182”… “ Like the aborigines llaneros, to whom, at least a part of them we have related with Cocuy.” 

 So Acosta writes: " ... Of the fruits, roots and tubers, also make chicha, or drink that is drunk, the crushed between two stones and you pour water in quantity supplied and wooden vessels or mud, and left to ferment three or four days, as it's so hot drink becomes rich , some of which are very strong and drunk soon , others are softer . " On the other hand in the book " On Tour and Description of the Indies, 1539-1559," says Galeotti Cey , describes the process of naming cocuiza fermented drink , the plant of which we did but now its confusion because it really would cocuy producing both fibers as drinks. " Liquor drink those people, because water never seen nor have ... there let them bake and braise, then take them out and eat them, that serves bread and call her cocuy ... " To this should be added the removing the " palm" obtained from the base of the cut maguey sap raw soothing dreadful thirst in those domains of drought and buds of flowers, known as " bicuyes " and indispensable as pickles and preparing ajiceros consabidos . 

 Likewise documents, testimonies and customs, we talk about the importance of the Agave Cocuy Cucuy in Lara state, this being an Aboriginal religious, nutritional and medicinal cultural element type. His process for obtaining this extraordinary Venezuelan distillate begins with cutting cocuy and subsequent firing in a handmade oven to hydrolyze starch. 

The oven of indigenous roots, is digging a hole in the ground of varying diameter and depth, usually consisting of a hole about three feet deep by eight feet in diameter that was dug in the ground. There pieces of firewood with fire becomes hot coals are placed on them limestone that refract heat and prevent accommodate tailings Cocuy touch the heads (in each oven put 10 dozen pads on, depending on the size of the furnace) , which are stacked on top of the pyramid-shaped rocks that can reach six feet tall. The pile heads cocuy is covered with leaves of the leaves that had previously been cut plants and sand or dirt on them. Everything is surrounded with cuji branches to prevent animals, especially goats approaching. This work is stopped 6-8 days until the leaves are well baked. Continued ... " Now the country we are, instead we all want."


 Writer: Antonio Pestana apestana@iconosdevenezuela.com contacto@ecoalianza.com www.ecoalianza.com @iconosvenezuela

The best of the Venezuelan gastronomy: la arepa

La arepa is cooked corn dough; you can cook it with butter, oil or fat and this is what gives the inexplicable flavor to the arepa. This dish is part of Venezuelan idiosyncrasy, is the most important symbol after the flag. But where does it come from? And how come it’s so important to Venezuelans?

The history of la arepa:

Galeotto Cei gave the oldest reference of the word arepa in his travel and descriptions of America (1539-1553):

“They make some kind of bread out of corn, its tortilla like, about a finger thick, round and big like a French plate, more or les. They used to cook it putting them on a pan over the fire and they spread it with oil so it wouldn’t get stuck, finally they would turn it around until it was well cooked on both sides. This is what people call arepas and some call them fecteguas.”

Some legends express that la arepa was the name given to the clay pan in which the original corn dough was cooked, others say that the word “arepa” comes from the cumagoto-language of the Amerindians, ethnic part of the Caribes that are originally from the province of Cumaná in Venezuela. Their decedents live north from Anzoteguí state in Venezuela, in their language the word arepa means corn, the main ingredient of la arepa.

La arepa depending on the region has different ways of being cooked:

Roasted: The dough is cooked in a special pan called budare. In big restaurants they usually use a big griddle in order to cook more arepas in less time. It’s worth pointing out that in Margarita people usually rub the budare with shark grease before putting the corn dough in it so the arepa gets a perfect form, better taste and better color.

Baked: The corn dough is put inside a home hoven or a wood one, this way is easier to fill it up.

Boiled: It’s cooked in boiling water for several minutes until it starts to compact.  Usually these come in an oval form and are called bollitos. This bollitos shouldn’t get confused with hallaquitas, the difference between them is that hallaquitas have a wrapping made out of banana’s tree leaves and bollito doesn’t.

Fried: The dough is put in boiling oil inside a pan until it gets a gold finish. A homemade trick is that before you put the arepa in the pan you make a little hole in the middle of the arepa.

The variety of stuffing you can put inside of the arepa are unbeatable, our next post will be dedicated to the fillings you can put inside of the arepa… Exquisite!