Tamales Tolimenses (Tolima-Style Tamales)
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Fuentes: Sinic (página web) y Carlos Enrique “Toto” Sánchez Ramos
Number of servings
8
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
500
gr white threshed corn
250
gr rice
250
gr dried peas, soaked from the day before
500
gr pork ribs, divided in 8 pieces
1
piece(s) hen cut in 8 pieces, or chicken if not available
500
gr bacon, divided in 8 pieces
6
cup(s) water
500
gr potatoes, peeled, cooked, and cut in slices
125
gr carrot, cut in slices
2
piece(s) hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices
1
piece(s) onion, chopped
5
piece(s) scallion stalks, finely chopped
8
clove(s) garlic, crushed
pinch achiote or annatto to taste
pinch salt, pepper, cumin, and cilantro to taste
16
piece(s) plantain or bijao leaves, toasted and cut in large squares
thin cabuya (agave twine)
Directions
- Prepare the rice normally, in 2 cups of water with ½ chopped onion and salt, but make sure it's very dry.
- Separately cook the peas with the remaining ½ onion and salt to taste until tender.
- Grind the corn finely and season with salt, pepper, and cumin.
- Separate the skin from the bacon and take the fatty part to a pot to make a sofrito with scallion and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes and reserve.
- At the same time, boil the pork ribs, hen, and bacon skin in 6 cups of water with salt and cilantro to taste for 20 minutes, until the meats are tender. Remove them and reserve the broth.
- Take 3 cups of the broth, dissolve the achiote or annatto in them, and add to the ground corn. Mix well and strain to eliminate excess liquid.
- Then, in a large container, put the rice, peas, and corn dough. Mix everything and reserve for at least 1 hour.
- With all ingredients prepared, start assembling the tamales.
- Arrange the plantain leaves on a table in pairs, one on top of the other, but in opposite directions. That is, the direction of the lines of the bottom leaf should be different from the top one.
- Once the leaves are prepared, proceed to put a bed of dough on them. On top arrange a piece of hen, a portion of pork rib, one of bacon, a slice of egg, one of carrot, and one of potato. Finally put another layer of dough.
- Then close each tamal by bringing the tips of the leaves upward; shape it into a package with your hands and, finally, make the "bow" by tying it with twine.
- Prepare the pot for cooking by making a bed of leaves, so the tamales don't have direct contact with the bottom of the pot.
- Put the assembled tamales to cook covered, over medium heat and in water that covers them, for 2½ hours, constantly checking that the water level is maintained.