Type | Pancake |
---|---|
Place of origin | Venezuela |
Main ingredients | Ground corn |
Cachapa is a traditional dish made from maize flour from Venezuela. Like arepas , they are popular at roadside stands. They can be made like pancakes of fresh corn dough, [1] or wrapped in dry corn leaves and boiled (cachapa de hoja). The most common varieties are made with fresh ground corn mixed into a thick batter and cooked on a budare , like pancakes; the cachapa is slightly thicker and lumpier because of the pieces from corn kernels.
Cachapas are traditionally eaten with queso de mano (hand[made] cheese), a soft, mozzarella-like cheese, and occasionally with fried pork chicharrón on the side. Cachapas can be very elaborate, some including different kinds of cheese, milky cream, or jam. They can be prepared as an appetizer, generally with margarine, or as a full breakfast with hand cheese and fried pork.
In Costa Rica, chorreadas are similar. [2]
In the Llanos Orientales, they are known as arepas de maiz jojoto or tierno (soft corn) [3] [4]
In Seville, Spain, there is a similar word in the Chaima dialect, which is registered as an indigenous word "kachapa" to make a sweet arepa for the Chaima (Venezuelan tribe).[ clarification needed ]
In Venezuela, the word "cachapera" refers to restaurants that sell this product. But in countries such as Venezuela and Puerto Rico, cachapera could also be a derogatory term for a lesbian. [5] [6]
Cachapas are very prominent in Venezuelan cuisine, anthropological evidence shows it has been a prominent food in Venezuela for about 3,000 years. [7]
Cachapas have a long history, originating in pre-Columbian times when indigenous people would grind corn with a stone and cook it under their fireplaces, a common practice frequently found in Latin America. [8]
Many believe that cachapas originated between the American tribes known as chaima cultures. Still, others date this traditional dish to the Yanomami, Arawak, and Parias tribe between 500 and 1,800 years ago. The north-central region of Venezuela was known for cultivating sweet corn and using it for a special occasion to make cachapas.
Today, this product can be bought pre-made or going to a specific restaurant for it, but many locals prefer to eat them as street food. The cachapas have adopted many shapes and forms during the years and have accommodated restrictive diets such as vegetarian or gluten-free.
Corn's presence has remained stable in Venezuelan cuisine as they use sweet corn in many of their main dishes, such as arepas, empanadas, and cachapas. Consumers can find the cachapas in any type of establishment, from the street truck to high-end restaurants, due to their popularity and significance in the country.
This Venezuelan food is fried and made with fresh corn, and modern cachapas are made with the addition of several ingredients such as salt and sugar to improve the flavor in them. Modern cachapas are made with a combination of corn, milk, salt, water, and sugar, and fillings like roasted pork and queso de mano ("hand[made] cheese") have been introduced by restaurants. Nowadays, people have skipped the fresh corn and switched to canned corn or frozen to speed up the process and modernized it to be more convenient. [9]
Cachapas are usually served folded in half with lots of butter and the desired filling inside. They have a crispy exterior, and the inside is tender to simulate the texture of a pancake. Still, the color of the cachapas is yellowish due to the cornmeal, which makes it easier to differentiate between American pancakes and Venezuelan "pancakes." [10]
The batter is made with tender corn kernels, sugar, milk, salt and melted butter. [11]
A pancake is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan. It is a type of batter bread. Archaeological evidence suggests that pancakes were probably eaten in prehistoric societies.
Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona. The Hidatsa people of the Upper Midwest call baked cornbread naktsi. Cherokee and Seneca tribes enrich the basic batter, adding chestnuts, sunflower seeds, apples, or berries, and sometimes combine it with beans or potatoes. Modern versions of cornbread are usually leavened by baking powder.
Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked ear of sweet corn (maize) eaten directly off the cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender. Ears of corn are steamed, boiled, or grilled usually without their green husks, or roasted with them. The husk leaves are removed before serving.
Arepa is a type of flatbread made of ground maize dough stuffed with a filling, eaten in northern parts of South America since pre-Columbian times, and notable primarily in the cuisine of Colombia and Venezuela, but also present in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Central America.
A gordita in Mexican cuisine is a dish made with masa and stuffed with cheese, meat, or other fillings. It is similar to the Colombian and Venezuelan arepa. There are two main variations of this dish, one of which is typically fried in a deep wok-shaped comal, consumed mostly in central and southern Mexico, and another one baked on a regular comal. The most common and representative variation of this dish is the "gordita de chicharrón", filled with chicharron which is widely consumed throughout Mexico. Gorditas are often eaten as a lunch dish and accompanied by several types of sauce.
New Mexican cuisine is the cuisine of the Southwestern US state of New Mexico. The region is primarily known for its fusion of Pueblo Native American cuisine with Hispano Spanish and Mexican cuisine originating in Nuevo México. This Southwestern culinary style is popular beyond the current boundaries of New Mexico, and is found throughout the old territories of Nuevo México and the New Mexico Territory, today the state of Arizona, parts of Texas, and the southern portions of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.
Venezuelan cuisine is influenced by its European, West African, and indigenous traditions. Venezuelan cuisine varies greatly from one region to another. Food staples include corn, rice, plantains, yams, beans and several meats.
The Harina P.A.N., is the first brand of boiled maize flour in Venezuela. The brand itself became a synecdoche, as it became a noun commonly used to indicate any similar maize flour.
Huminta, Huma or Humita is a Native South American dish that dates back to pre-Hispanic times. A traditional food from the Andes, it can be found in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina. It consists of fresh choclo pounded to a paste, wrapped in a fresh corn husk, and slowly steamed or boiled in a pot of water. In Bolivia, it is known as huminta and in Brazil as pamonha. Humitas are similar to Mexican uchepos, or tamales colados, which are also made with fresh corn; but they are only superficially similar to tamales, which are made with nixtamalized corn (masa). Colombia's envueltos or bollos are also similar to humitas. They share a link to the juane, which can be made with corn but is modernly made with rice.
Canarian cuisine refers to the typical dishes and ingredients in the cuisine of the Canary Islands, and it constitutes an important element in the culture of its inhabitants. Its main features are the freshness, variety, simplicity, and richness of its ingredients, the mix of seafood and meat dishes, its cultural influences and the low knowledge of it by the rest of the world. Canarian cuisine is influenced by other cultures, especially that of the aboriginal inhabitants of the islands (Guanches), and has influenced Latin American cuisine.
Colombian cuisine is a culinary tradition of the six main regions within Colombia. Colombian cuisine varies regionally and is influenced by Indigenous Colombian, Spanish, and African cuisines, with a slight Arab influence in some regions.
White cheese includes a wide variety of cheese types discovered in different regions, sharing the sole common characteristic of their white hue. The specific type of white cheese can vary significantly depending on the geographical location.
Cuchifritos or cochifritos refers to various fried foods prepared principally of pork in Spanish and Puerto Rican cuisine. In Spain, cuchifritos are a typical dish from Segovia in Castile. The dish consists of pork meat fried in olive oil and garlic and served hot. In Puerto Rico they include a variety of dishes including morcilla, papas rellenas, and chicharron, and other parts of the pig prepared in different ways. Some cuchifritos dishes are prepared using plantain as a primary ingredient. Cuchifritos vendors also typically serve juices and drinks such as passionfruit, pineapple, and coconut juice, as well as ajonjolí, a drink made from sesame seeds.
Dominican cuisine is made up of Spanish, indigenous Taíno, Middle Eastern, and African influences. The most recent influences in Dominican cuisine are from the British West Indies and China.
A great variety of cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava is cultivated. Manihot esculenta is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes.
Regional street food is street food that has commonalities within a region or culture.
Sorullos are a fried cornmeal-based dish that is a staple of the Puerto Rican cuisine. Sorullos are served as a side dish or as appetizers, and are sometimes stuffed with cheese. They can be served with mayoketchup, coffee or dusted in confectioners' sugar.
Choclo, also referred to as Peruvian corn or Cuzco corn, is a large-kernel variety of field corn from the Andes. It is consumed in parts of Central America and South America, especially in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. Choclo may also refer to common corn in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
Breakfast, the first meal of the day eaten after waking from the night's sleep, varies in composition and tradition across the world.