Tamales

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Tamales

 South America » Ecuador By sambal
February 3rd 2007
Chantal Otavalo Principal, Azuay, Ecuador
Jose and I decided not to go to the city today because his parents are making tamales and we want to learn. Since Jose and I are aspiring chefs, this is more important than going to the city. The corn has been soaking in a bucket overnight.
Tamales:
1. Sieve out all the water from the corn.
2. Grind the corn very fine in a machine called a corona.
3. Boil pork, and save the water to pour into the dough.
4. Mix the pork with refrito, peas, carrots and manteca color. Manteca color is lard colored orange by annatto seeds.
5. Gather banana leaves and clean them with a towel.
6. Mix water and the pork broth into the corn flour.
7. Spoon the dough into the center of the banana leaf.
8. Put meat on it.
9. Roll up the sides to fold the dough.
10. Fold up the leaf.
11. In a double boiler, steam the tamales for 1 hour. You can eat them like that or fry them.

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Photos

Corona
This machine is called a Corona, it is used to grind grains into flour.

grind the corn
this is my husband jose

papa and jose
grinding the corn. the bench was moving all over the place so jose worked the machine while papa held the bench down.

the filling
pork, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, green pepper, peas, and carrots.

make the dough
pour the liquid from the pork into it and enough water until it forms a thick dough.

the dough
should be this thick

Gather the leaves
the banana leaves

Spoon
the filling into the banana leaf like this

fold
the tamales are ready to be cooked

They're ready
you can eat them like this or fry them