Venezuelan · serves 10 · about 180 minutes
The labor of love at the heart of a Venezuelan Christmas: a corn-dough parcel filled with a rich beef-pork-chicken stew, wrapped in plantain leaf and steamed.
Ingredients
- 3 cups precooked corn meal (masarepa)
- 1 lb mixed beef, pork & chicken
- 1 onion
- 1 bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp Iberia Sazon without Annatto - 36 ct 6.34 oz
- 1/4 cup raisins and olives
- 3 tbsp Iberia Extra Virgin Olive Oil Blend 51 oz
- as needed plantain leaves
Method
- Make the stew (guiso): brown the meats in Iberia Olive Oil with onion, pepper, garlic, and Iberia Sazon; simmer until rich, then cool.
- Knead the masarepa with warm water, salt, and a little annatto oil into a soft, pliable dough.
- Spread a thin layer of dough on a softened plantain leaf.
- Spoon stew into the center and dot with raisins and olives.
- Fold the leaf into a sealed rectangle and tie with string.
- Steam or boil the parcels 45 minutes; unwrap to serve.