Recipe of the Week: Venezuelan cachapas

Corn is one of the staples of Venezuelan cuisine.

And one of the trademark dishes of the South American country is a folded sweet corn pancake called cachapas — pronounced caw-chop-ahs — that's traditionally a popular Venezuela street vendor product.

The breakfast and appetizer dish uses a ground sweet corn batter and is a sweeter, gluten-free version of the traditional flour-based U.S. pancake.

The dish topped with cheese is made from simple ingredients. It fuses sweet and salty flavors.

Traditionally, a white cheese called queso fresco is used in cachapas. Since that cheese type can be difficult to find, a blend of mozzarella and feta cheeses can be used to simulate those flavors.

Cachapas are often served with pork. Out of simplicity, I used pork sausage links for this recipe. To be more authentic, you can use marinated shredded pork.

I've found multiple recipes for cheese-only versions as well.

The biggest thing to remember for success with this recipe is to keep the frying pan at medium heat and being patient before flipping the cachapas batter.

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Pork cachapas

Yield: About 8 pancakes

3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/ 4 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon stick of butter/or nonstick spray

1 teaspoon salt

8 fried pork sausage links

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1/ 2 cup feta cheese

one Place the corn, cream, salt and melted butter in a food processor or blender, and process until you have a fairly smooth, thick batter.

two Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add tablespoon of butter or spray pan with nonstick spray. Add about 1/ 4 cup of the batter to skillet, and spread the batter with a spatula to make a circle.

three Cook the pancake until it is starting to bubble and the spatula can easily slide underneath it. Flip the pancake and cook for several minutes on the other side. Keep the temperature on the low side or the outside of the pancakes will burn before the inside is completely cooked.

four Spread grated mozzarella and feta cheeses on top. Add a fried pork sausage link. Fold pancakes in half and heat until cheese melts.

Source: Based on an About.com recipe by Marian Blazes.

Past recipes of the week

•Jerk chicken: Marinated Jamaican grilled tourist staple.

•Brown soda bread: Authentic Irish unleavened bread recipe.

•Mulligawtany: A tart Anglo-Indian curried soup.

•Chicken costa brava: A tomato-based Spanish chicken dish.

•Honey garlic pizza: Salty meets sweet on this specialty.

•3-course Valentine's dinner: Pesto flatbread, salmon salad and blueberry sauce on ice cream.

•Chicken suqaar: Somali-seasoned chicken and rice dish.

•Super Bowl XLIX desserts: Boston cream pie vs. Seattle Starbucks tiramisu.

•Pork gnocchi: An Italian potato-dumpling pasta substitute.

•She-crab soup: A creamy Carolina seafood soup.

•Texas chili: A beanless, meat-heavy version.

•Chicken fried rice: A wok-fried Thai specialty.

•Chile rellenos: A stuffed Mexican pepper.

•Calzone: A folded, stuffed Italian pizza.

About this series

The Recipe of the Week is a D'lish series that features foods from different cultures and offers home cooks an easy-to-follow recipe. If you end up making the Recipe of the Week, send your photos to jlaxen@stcloudtimes.com, on Twitter @jacoblaxen, or upload at www.facebook.com/sctimesdlish. Past recipes of the week can be found online at www.sctimes.com/jlaxen.