Hallaca (Venezuelan Stuffed Corn Dough)

Instructions

Wipe the banana leaves with a damp cloth, then pass them over a flame until they turn softer and darker and smell smoky. Trim off the hard rim without tearing the leaves and cut them into 30 cm segments along the cross veins.

Warm 5 tsp olive oil with the annatto seeds in a small pan over very low heat for 20 minutes, until the oil turns red. Strain out the seeds.

Fry the cumin, peppercorns and coriander seeds in 2 to 3 tsp olive oil in a deep pan. Add the white onions, 5 cups of boiling water, both stock cubes, the marmite, leeks, fresh herbs, three-quarters of the spring onions and the garlic, then simmer for 15 minutes.

Liquidise the contents of the pot and strain very well, keeping the liquid and discarding the solids. Stir the annatto oil and the liquid from the olive and caper jars into the broth.

Add the polenta meal one cup at a time, stirring well, until you have a smooth dough, then mix in the mashed potatoes. To test it, wrap 1 tsp of dough in a piece of banana leaf and foil and boil it for 15 minutes. If it holds its shape the dough is ready; if it crumbles, add more polenta, and if it is rock hard, add water. Adjust the salt.

Rub the red peppers with olive oil, grill them until the skin chars, then peel, seed and cut them into 1 cm strips. Combine the carrots, Brussels sprouts and green beans. Soak the vine fruit and the prunes in cooking wine, and drain the chickpeas.

Blanch and toast the almonds, and drain and cut the mock duck into 1 cm cubes. Drain the artichoke hearts and quarter them. Put the pickles, olives and capers in separate bowls so the fillings are ready to assemble.

Quickly stir-fry the onion, leek and the remaining spring onions. Liquidise the tomatoes and peppers, stir them into the pan for a minute, then season with soy sauce, chili sauce and ground cumin, with a little cooking wine if you like. Simmer a minute more, thicken with some flour and set the sauce aside.

Lay a 35 cm piece of aluminum foil on the table and cover it with a banana leaf, with the cross veins running horizontally, ready to be filled with dough and fillings and wrapped.