Guatemalan-style Tamales
Recipe Description
This recipe was found in the "Cooking Light" magazine. If you enjoy tomatillos, you will enjoy this.Ingredients
- 4 pounds of banana leaves (they are also available in pre-cut packages, usually frozen.) ==
- 5 pounds of tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1½ pounds of red bell peppers, sliced lengthwise into slivers
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 ounces squash seeds (available at Latino specialty stores)
- 1 guajillo chile, dried, stem removed and seeded
- 1 ancho chile, dried, stem removed and seeded
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 1½ ounces sesame seeds
- ? cup lard, about 3 ounces
- 3 pounds lean boneless pork (preferably from the shoulder) cut into 1-inch cubes
- 72 Spanish olives, about 3 cups
- 72 capers, about 1½ cups ==
- 4 pounds, about 8 cups, fresh coarse-ground corn masa for tamales
- 3 cups water
- ½ pound (1 cup) lard|pork lard
- salt to taste
- ==
- Unfold the banana leaves and cut off the long hard sides and ends of the leaves.
- Check for holes and cut leaves into unbroken 12-inch segments (you will need about 36).
- Steam the segments for 20 minutes to make them soft and pliable. ==
- In a large pot, combine tomatoes, ½ pound of the bell peppers and 1 cup of water and salt.
- Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 30 minutes, until tomatoes break apart.
- While tomatoes simmer, toast chiles, squash seeds and cinnamon stick in a nonstick pan for approximately 5 minutes until the chiles and seeds release their aroma.
- Be careful not to burn the seeds or chiles because they will make the sauce bitter.
- When fragrant, add sesame seeds and toast for another 5 minutes, until sesame seeds are fragrant.
- Add chile and seed mixture to the tomatoes.
- In batches, puree mixture in a blender or food processor adding water if necessary to blend into a smooth puree.
- Strain the mixture through a medium-mesh strainer back into pot.
- Bring to a simmer and add lard.
- Taste for salt and add if necessary. ==
- In another pot, combine masa and water, beating until water is incorporated.
- Add lard and bring mixture to a boil.
- Taste for salt and add if necessary.
- The mixture should have the consistency of soft (not runny) cake batter. ==
- Cut 36 12-inch pieces of butcher string or thin strips of banana leaves.
- Lay out a square banana leaf, shiny side up, and spread about ? cup of the masa into an 8x4-inch rectangle over it toward the right edge of the leaf.
- An ice cream scoop is a great tool for this.
- Spoon 3 tablespoons of the sauce onto the masa.
- Place 1 cube of pork, 2 olives, 2 capers, and several strands of bell pepper into a decorative pattern on the left half of the masa.
- Fold over the right edge of the banana leaf, enclosing the filling in the masa.
- Fold over the left edge, and then the top and bottom, creating a tight square package.
- Loosely tie the tamales with string.
- Once all tamales are assembled arrange them in layers in a large pot with about 4-6 inches of water at the bottom.
- Bring to a boil and steam, covered, over a constant medium heat for about 1¼ hours.
- Watch carefully to make sure that all the water doesn't boil away and, to keep the steam steady, pour boiling water into the pot when more is necessary.
- Tamales are done when the leaves peel away from the masa easily.
- Let the tamales stand for several minutes off the heat when done so they firm up.
This article uses material from the "Guatemalan-style Tamales" article on the Recipes wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License
