Tamales

A tamal is a mix of boiled corn with meat or cheese, all wrapped in a banana leaf. It’s usually eaten in the breakfast or as an entree in the lunch; almost all of the peruvian food restaurants have some type of tamal. It’s served with onion sauce. The tamal is similar to the humita (we’ll learn how to make this one too – later). With this recipe, you’ll prepare 10 tamales.

Ingredients:

• 10 big corns
• 1/2 kg (1 lb) of chicken
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 50 g (1/8 lb) of toasted peanuts
• 200 g (0.5 lb) + 2 tablespoons of shortening
• 12 black olives without seeds
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 4 dry mirasol chilis/peppers in paste (see the link)
• 3 hard-boiled eggs
• Banana leaves
• Onion sauce
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation:

Grate the corn kernels.

In a frying pan, put 2 tablespoons of shortening. When it’s hot, fry the chopped onion, the garlic, salt, pepper, the mirasol paste and the chicken, cut in pieces.

When the chicken is browned, cover with water and let it cook on a low flame.

Heat the 200 g of shortening in a pot to melt it. Add the grated kernels and stir constantly. Add the previous preparation. Let it cook; the corn dough must be thick.

Ok, we’re going to fit the tamal.

Wash the leaves. Put a little of the dough over two leaves; add a piece of chicken, 1/4 of a hard-boiled egg, a little of toasted peanuts and a olive. Cover with more dough and wrap as a gift. Tie with a strip of the same leaf.

When all the tamales get fit, cook them in a big pot with a little of water for an hour.

Serve with onion sauce.

Note: I know it’s hard to get the peruvian corn. You can use corn flour. Some people I know have tested to prepare it with a mexican corn flour named Maseca and have get good results.

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