Venezuelan chef Zuleyma Padrino, @zuleymapadrino, couldn’t be more generous these days of Holy Week. For these holy days, she presents us with the perfect coordinates for the preparation of her recipe for a traditional dish from eastern Venezuela: El Cuajao.
Zuleyma Padrino shares her reflections on food these days in a post on her Instagram account and tells us “cooking is closely linked to festive dates and celebrations, this time I will refer to El Cuajao: a Creole version of the Spanish tortilla , which is consumed during Holy Week».
Precisely, in Monagas, more specifically, in Maturín during the celebration of “La Ruta del Cuajo 2023”, an interesting discussion was held that brought together various experts in the country’s culinary traditions, where El Cuajo was the main topic.
Dionisio Núñez, a member of the Academy of History and the Association of Chroniclers of the Monagas state, highlighted that “El Cuajao” was a dish that was prepared in the most humble houses, by people who settled in Monagas, coming from the states Sucre and Nueva Esparta, who arrived here brought by the oil boom more than 60 years ago, but not only brought the desire to work but also brought their special ways of preparing food. One of its treasures and that still lives and will continue to live, adapting to the times, is this supreme cake that is “El Cuajao.
The gastronomic journalist, Jorge Hernández, host of the program @monagasgourmet, which is broadcast by the Perfecta Sonora 99.3 station, every Saturday, sent us the exquisite recipe of this master of the kitchen Zuleyma Padrino. So we present to you in the style of @zuleymapadrino, this oriental delicacy.
Ingredients for El Cuajao
1 kilo of salted fish -dogfish, mutt, cod-
3 medium onions, 1 bunch of chives, 1 bunch of coriander, 10 sweet peppers, 3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup of sweet wine. 15 large eggs
1 kg of boiled and finely sliced potatoes, 3 sliced fried ripe plantains
1 cup of onotado oil, 1 cup of grated cheese
2 tablespoons of wheat flour
Butter and breadcrumbs for the mold
Preparation of El Cujao
First, soak the fish a day before, then put it to boil and boil until cooked. Take it out and crumble it. Remove the thorns, bones and skins and squeeze by squeezing with your hands. Reserve.
Then, chop the small seasonings and place them to fry with the cup of onotado oil. When they are withered, add the shredded fish, move and cook for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and ½ cup of sweet wine. Let cook and dry just a little.
Previously, apart have the sliced bananas already fried, the potatoes already boiled and chopped into wheels and now the fish already stewed.
Separate the eggs from the yolks and place the whites in a grease-free bowl.
Beat until they rise. Add the yellow ones, mix and then add a teaspoon of salt and the wheat flour
Proceed to assemble on the previously buttered tray and with the grated bread.
Place an egg layer of approximately 10 centimeters then fish, bananas and potatoes. Start again and finally add the egg and the scattered grated cheese.
Bake in the oven over medium heat until a stick inserted comes out clean, which means the egg is cooked. Take out and let rest for a while, cut and serve with beans, white rice and cassava.
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