Limonada Con Panela/Papelón con limón/Venezuelan Panela Limonade ~~ Venezuelan Cuisine

A month of blogging marathon is getting almost over,yes just few alphabets are left, happy that i accompalished this Around the world in 30days theme brightly by cooking various dishes from 26 countries to fit the tastebuds of my family members. For 'V', i was between Vietnam and Venezuela, vietnamese ingredients are easily available for me since am living in China town. However i want to try a different cuisine and hence i opted for Venezuelan cuisine.

Venezuelan Cuisine, a complete unknown cuisine for me, while googling i found that this Cuisine has a lot of European influences (especially Italian, Spanish and French) and is quite flavourful. But you can also find indigenous as well as African influence. As Venezuela is such a large and diverse country, each region has its own distinctive regional cooking.On the coast you will find high quality fish, shellfish, crayfish, fish soups as well as fish stews. Try the pargo (red snapper) or the dorado if you have the chance. Coconut is also part of some dishes.In the Andean region the food is quite different. Even the most famous dish the "arepa" is not made of cornmeal but wheat. Here you can find cured meats and sausages which are sold in many rural villages. You should not miss the famous fresh trucha (trout) dishes which come from the many Andean streams and lakes.The food in the Amazon region varies a lot from the rest of Venezuela. Besides the main ingredients like yucca, corn, beans and bananas some people even eat turtles, tapirs, monkeys birds and deep fried ants.Meat lovers will enjoy the parillas (mixed grill) in Venezuela as the quality of meat is quite high and the prices are low. You can choose between muchacho (roast beef), solomo (sirloin) and lomito (steak).

I have been looking for a dessert in Venezuelan cuisine, but while going through various blogs and sites, i found that an easy beverage is quite famous in this cuisine. Initially i thought that panela is some local ingredients and started googling about it. Thank god, panela is nothing our sugar cane jaggery, immediately i tried this super refreshing beverage. Since its summer here, this drink makes an excellent drink and love the simplicity of this limonade. Yes this drink can be prepared in a jiffy and definitely a thirsty quencher.Limonada Con Panela/Papelón con limón is a refreshing Venezuelan beverage made with papelón (raw hardened sugar cane juice/jaggery), water, and usually lime or sometimes lemon juice.

8nos Lime

2cups Panela / Jaggery (grated)

6cups Cold water

1cup Ice cubes

Squeeze out the juice from the limes.

Add juice of limes to pitcher.

Now add grated panela to lime juice and stir until dissolved. 

Add water,ice cubes and stir to combine.

Chill for several hours or simply serve immediately over ice.

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