Maria, mother of Andrew Wilson students Fred (8th grade) and Ángel (second grade) shared her family recipe for traditional Honduran Tamales. She said every time she makes this dish, it brings back childhood memories.
TRADITIONAL HONDURAN DISH: TAMALES
For 25 tamales
Ingredients
8 cups of Maseca
5 lbs of boneless chicken breast or thighs
2 tomatoes
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
cilantro bunch
green bell pepper
2 stalks of celery
3-4 potatoes
tomato paste
1 tablespoon of chicken bouillon
1 tablespoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of achiote paste
1 tablespoon of hot pepper
2 tablespoons of butter
2 potatoes
white rice
1 pack of banana leaves
1 roll of aluminum foil
Large pot
Medium pot
Directions
Prepare the Chicken:
Cut the chicken in pieces and cook it with chicken bouillon until it’s about half-way cooked. Then, we are going to put some vegetables in the blender that we previously chopped: 2 tomatoes, 2 onions, garlic, half of a cilantro bunch, half of a green pepper, 2 stalks of celery. Add some of this mixture and tomato paste, ½ teaspoon of achiote, 2 tablespoons of Mexican butter to the cooked chicken. Pour everything in a big bowl or container.
Prepare the Dough:
Mix ½ bag of Maseca with water until it obtains a thick texture. It doesn’t have to be runny. Pour in the rest of the blended vegetables and a little of spices depending on your taste. Add 1 cup of oil and then cook it until it becomes thick. This takes about 45 minutes. Let it sit until it is cool and then you can start preparing the tamales.
Prepare the Potatoes:
Dice the potatoes in small pieces and boil them for approximately for 8 minutes. Drain out the water from the cooked potatoes and place the potatoes in a bowl. Let them sit.
Prepare the Rice:
Prepare rice according to package instructions.
How to assemble the tamales:
First, take a piece of aluminum foil and a place piece of banana leaf on top of it. Then add a tablespoon of dough, a piece of chicken, a teaspoon of rice and finally add spoon of the diced potatoes. Then, wrap and fold the ends of the aluminum foil. Continue these steps for each tamale.
Cooking the tamales:
Place a banana leaf inside the bottom of the pot where you’re cooking them, add water to cover the tamales. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer to steam. Cook them for as long as needed and make sure they are well cooked. It takes an hour to cook them. When the tamales are done, you can serve them with bread, pickled onion or pepper
DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE CARD HERE
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