Guatemala / Main
Guatemalan tamales
Corn dough with meat and recado sauce, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed.
Ingredients
- Masa harina700 g
- Pork, in pieces800 g
- Lard200 g
- Tomatoes500 g
- Guajillo chillies4
- Pumpkin seeds80 g
- Sesame seeds40 g
- Onion1
- Garlic5 cloves
- Banana leaves16
- Olives16
- Bell pepper1
- Saltto taste
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 7 steps
Simmer the pork with the onion and salt for an hour. Strain and keep the broth.
Toast the seeds, sesame, chillies and tomatoes in a dry pan and blend them with broth; that is the recado.
Cook the recado twenty minutes to thicken it and season.
Slake the masa harina with warm broth, add the melted lard and work it twenty minutes over a low heat.
Pass the banana leaves over a flame for ten seconds each so they turn pliable.
On a leaf spread the dough, then a piece of meat, a spoon of recado, a strip of pepper and an olive. Wrap in two leaves.
Stack the parcels seam down in a pot and steam them for an hour and a half.
