Venezuelan Christmas Bazaar, Westminster Hall, 7 Dec

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the usual Venezuelan festive foods so the Venezuelan community in London has organized a Christmas Bazaar at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday, 7 December. There will be stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a feliz navidad Venezuelan style, as well as rum cocktails, traditional music, and a raffle.

Festive favourites on sale include:

Hallacas - A stew of chicken, beef, olives and capers that is stuffed into a maize dough pocket, wrapped in a banana leaf, tied with string and boiled.

Pan de Jamon - A soft bread with ham and raisins inside.

Ensalada de Gallina - A chicken and potato salad.

Pernil - Roast pork.

Ponche Crema - A creamy Christmas tipple made with condensed milk and rum.

Quesillo - Creme caramel, sometimes known as flan.

There will also be face painting and a bouncy castle for the kids to enjoy while you pick up all your Christmas-dinner essentials.

How to get there: Westminster Cathedral Hall is part of the famous Westminster Cathedral (SW1P 1QH). The entrance to the hall is in Ambrosden Avenue, which is reached from Victoria Street or Francis Street.

Ordering Venezuelan Xmas Food in London

Anybody living in London or the surrounding area who is looking to find Venezuelan Christmas dishes made to order should contact Luisa Chavez.

A Venezuelan woman with a talent for making exceptional cakes, Luisa has been providing homesick Venezuelans with all the food they need for a festive Christmas for many years now.

Her specialities include:

Hallacas - Essential to Christmas and New Year festivities, hallacas are a Venezuelan form of the tamale, a stew of pork, beef, chicken, raisins, capers, and other ingredients that is stuffed into a maize dough pocket, wrapped in plantain leaves and boiled. Hallacas are delicious and although essentially a Chritmas dish are eaten in Venezuela from November through January.

Pan de Jamon - Another unmissable dish on the Christmas table, pan de jamon is a soft bread rolled up with ham and raisins inside. Luisa goes the extra mile with her pan de jamon and even personalizes it with your name if you ask her nicely,

Ponche Crema - A form of creamy eggnog made with condensed milk and Venezuelan rum, ponche crema is a great Christmas spirit way to get in the festive mood.

To pre-order ponche crema, hallacas, pan de jamon and tortas call Luisa Chavez on 07985239852, or 01784 241565.

Venezuelan Xmas Food Bazaar - London - 9 December

For Venezuelans living in the UK, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the traditional festive foods so it's good news to hear that on Sunday, 9 December, there will be a Venezuelan Christmas Bazaar at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith (W6 9DT) from 12-6 pm.

There will be stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a Venezuelan-style Feliz Navidad, as well as rum, tropical tunes, and a raffle.

Entrance is free and all lovers of South American food are cordially invited to attend.

Festive favourites on sale include hallacas (a stew of chicken, beef and capers in a maize dough pocket that is wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled), pan de jamon (soft bread with ham and raisins inside), ensalada de gallina (chicken and potato salad), pernil (roast ham), and some homemade versions of the traditional tipple ponche crema.

There will also be stalls selling popular Venezuelan snacks, such as arepas, empanadas, and cachapas, and all sorts of sweet treats like quesillo and cakes.

This popular annual event has traditionally been held at Bolivar Hall - the Cultural Centre of the Venezuelan Embassy - but it wasn't possible to hold it there this year due to a scheduling clash, so it was decided to make the move to the Irish Centre in Hammersmith, a good-sized venue with excellent access via the Hammersmith and City, Picadilly and District lines and several bus routes.

Luisa Chavez, who runs a stall called Tu-UK-Navidena, told me that she is hard at work making hallacas and cakes for the event and suggests anybody who cannot make it on the day or who wants to pre-order their ponche crema, hallacas, pan de jamon and tortas can call her on 07985239852, or 01784 241565.

Other stalls include Arepa & Co, who have been selling arepas and cachapas in Camden Lock Market for several years now, and Mi Cocina es Tuya, who have a cafe-style restaurant in Crystal palace selling all manner of Venezuelan food.

Luisa Chavez and her highly-praised pan de jamon and hallacas.

   

Venezuelan Xmas food at UK bazaar - 11 December

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without all the usual Venezuelan festive foods so the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in London has organized a Christmas Bazaar at Bolivar Hall on Sunday 11 December with stalls selling all the seasonal treats you need for a feliz navidad Venezuelan style, as well as rum, music, and a raffle.

Festive favourites on sale include hallacas (a stew of chicken, beef and capers wrapped in maize dough and a banana leaf and then boiled), pan de jamon (a soft bread with ham and raisins inside), ensalada de gallina (a chicken and potato salad), pernil (roast ham), and some homemade versions of the traditional tipple ponche crema.

The folks from Arepa & Co will also be there, serving the full range of arepa fillings and the pan de jamon they sell on their weekend Camden Market stall.

Given the popularity of the event and the difficulty of obtaining Venezuelan seasonal dishes elsewhere, the following stallholders are taking orders ahead of the bazaar, so nobody goes away disappointed:

Mi Cocina es Tuya
After many years in the business of cooking Venezuelan food Alexis and Mary Calvo know how to adapt the ingredients they find in the UK to make their dishes taste authentic. They also run the only Venezuelan cafe in London, Cafe Latino, at 61 Westow Street in Crystal Palace (SE19 3RW). Alexis says they will have traditional hallacas, ensalada de gallina, pernil, pan de jamon, quesillo (creme caramel), dulce de tres leches (a sticky, sweet cake) and papelon con limon (a refreshing blend of lemon juice and cane sugar). They'll also be selling a seafood cocktail that is widely believed to have "rejuvenating" properties. Popular at Venezuelan seaside spots, it is variously known as "Vuelve a La Vida" (Back to Life), "Siete Potencias" (Seven Powers) or "Rompe Colchon" (Mattress Buster). Try some and let me know if it works.
Phone: 0208-771-4078
Mobile: 0750-862-6486
Email: micocinaestuya@hotmail.com
webpage:Mi Cocina es Tuya


Tu UK Navidena
Roberto Jardin and Luisa Chavez might look like cowboys in the photo, but there was nothing dodgy about their pan de jamon last year which, was one of the best I've had in the UK. 
Currently struggling to fill over 200 pre-orders for hallacas, Roberto says this year will be the biggest yet for the bazaar and they promise to have an even wider selection of savoury dishes and desserts.
Phone: 0178-424-1565
Mobile: 0798-523-9852, 0795-610-1227 
Email: robertojardin@hotmail.com






Lulu's Flavours
Libia Marulanda has been cooking for the ambassadors of Venezuela for 15 years and makes an excellent ensalada de gallina. 
Apart from the hallacas and hallaquitas on her stall, she does a roaring trade in homemade tequenos, the Venezuelan party snack of choice. 
She'll also have meat and chicken empanadas and dulce de leche.
Mobile: 0794-487-1422
Email: libiamarulanda@yahoo.co.uk






Venue: Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL
Date: Sunday, 11 December, 2011
Time: 12.00-21.00
Nearest Tube: Warren Street
Click here for a map showing the location

How to Make Hallacas - Venezuelan Christmas Food

The most important dish at Christmas in Venezuela is without doubt the hallaca, a cornmeal-dough pocket stuffed with a host of tasty ingredients, wrapped in a plantain leaf, and boiled.

Culinary legend has it that the hallaca originated from the tradition of the plantation owners giving the leftover scraps from their Christmas banquets to the slaves, who would use them to spice up the boiled cornmeal dough (known as bollos) that constituted their daily diet.

That's why, the theory goes, hallacas are stuffed with such an odd range of things, from chicken, beef and pork stew to olives, raisins, capers and even boiled eggs, depending on the family recipe.

Making hallacas is an elaborate process with many stages, and in Venezuela usually involves the whole family.

Luckily, Adriana Lopez, co-owner of Pica Pica restaurant in San Francisco, has made a very comprehensive set of videos showing how to make your own hallacas at home.

For more great recipes check out Adriana Lopez' blog: AdrianaLopezBlog.com

Feliz Navidad Con Sabor! Venezuelan Christmas

I'd like to say a massive Feliz Navidad to all those who have visited the blog and sent me their comments. Thanks so much for all your support. I promise I'll post more recipes in the New Year.

I also have to say a big thank you to Luisa and Roberto from TU-UKSABORVENEZOLANO for making my Christmas dreams come true.

Thanks to them I was able to enjoy a traditional Venezuelan Christmas dinner on 24 December with homemade ponche crema to keep out the cold, hallacas wrapped in plantain leaves, ensalada de gallina and a huge pan de jamon - with my name on it!

They also made me a wicked quesillo, Venezuela's creole version of the classic French dessert creme caramel, or flan.

All I had to do was crank up the gaitas for some traditional sounds to accompany the great Venezuelan food and drinks.

To order Venezuelan specialities in London contact Luisa or Robert on 0798-523-9852, 0795-610-1227 or 0178-424-5231 or email them at: tu-uksaborvenezolano@hotmail.co.uk

Ponche Crema - Venezuelan Xmas in a glass

December is here and it's time to break out the glasses and share a cordial round of Ponche Crema, Venezuela's most typical festive drink.

Made from alcohol, milk, egg-whites, sugar and a few a closely-guarded secret ingredients, Ponche Crema has been infusing Venezuelan family gatherings with Christmas spirit since Eliodoro Gonzalez P. first came up with the concoction in 1900.

It wasn't the first ponche ever invented, as Venezuelans had been making their own home recipes of milk, sugar and rum (even cognac in some cases) for years and continue to do so today, but Don Eliodoro's Ponche Crema had the distinction of becoming a household name and a national tradition.

A chemist, perfumer and tireless entrepreneur, Don Eliodoro really hit the jackpot with his Ponche Crema, which was so popular when it first came out that the president of the republic, Cipriano Castro, personally signed the patent for it on 17 March 1904.

Not content with local glory, Eliodoro then took his patented cream punch on a tour of the great fairs of the United States and Europe. It was a smash in London, where it won the "Grand Prix" at the 1908 fair, and was received with accolades at the Saint Louis World Fair in Missouri, the International Maritime Exhibit in Bordeaux and the Food and Hygiene Exhibit in Paris, the capital of fashion and taste at the time.

A commentator wrote afterwards: "With the same confidence in his dreams he felt like a Columbus in reverse: he wanted to conquer the Old World, the ancient and arrogant Europe. For this endeavour he did not need an army, nor religion, nor violence, and even less the useless promise of gold... A little milk, eggs, sugar and a 'touch' of alcohol would be all he neded to amaze those who, with the sheer passage of time, had lost faith."

Don Eliodoro died on 29 January, 1923, with his place in Venezuela's culinary history firmly established. The secret of his punch was passed on to his relatives, known as the Successors of Eliodoro Gonzalez P.

They have continued to produce Ponche Crema in exactly the same way to the present day and it is now exported to Miami and New York in the USA, the Canary Islands, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Saint Marteen, Antigua and Saint Thomas.

Today, only four people are entrusted with the secret - which many have tried to copy but which none have bettered - and the company is keen to stress that the famous recipe is the best kept industrial secret in the world.

Whatever Ponche Crema contains, served over ice in punch glasses this exotic eggnog definitely hits the spot.

The company's slogan is "Navidad es compartir!" ("Christmas is for sharing") and in my experience Ponche Crema is the one thing guaranteed to bring the family together and get otherwise straight-laced tios and tias shaking their stuff to the latest reggaeton tracks following the traditional Christmas meal, held late on 24 December.

As a friend once said to me after I turned down a glass of the sweet, Bailey's like drink: "No tienes miedo pana. Bebetelo! Es nacional y hoy es navidad!" ("Don't be scared, mate. Drink it up! It's a national drink and today is Christmas!").

Before I knew it I was doing my best(?!) Daddy Yankee impression while elderly auntie Caridad showed off her "perreo" and everybody stood round and clapped.

That's what I call a feliz navidad. Gracias por exisitir Don Eliodoro Gonzalez Poleo.