Tamales recipe

A corn masa parcel boiled in banana leaves around a red recado thickened with toasted pumpkin and sesame seeds.

3 hours and 30 minuteshard12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 20 banana leaves
• 700 g corn masa
• 900 g pork shoulder
• 700 g plum tomatoes
• 4 guaque chiles
• 60 g pumpkin seeds
• 60 g sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp achiote
• 225 g lard
• 100 g green olives
• 50 g capers
• 2 tsp salt

How to make Tamales

1. Pass 20 banana leaves briefly over a flame until they turn glossy and pliable, then cut them into 30 cm squares. Corn husks are for Mexican tamales, not Guatemalan ones.
2. Simmer 900 g of pork shoulder in salted water for 45 minutes, then cut it into chunks and keep 1 litre of the broth.
3. Toast 60 g of pumpkin seeds and 60 g of sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden, and toast 4 seeded guaque chiles for a few seconds each side.
4. Boil 700 g of plum tomatoes with the chiles for 10 minutes, blend with the toasted seeds and 1 tablespoon of achiote, then simmer this recado 20 minutes until it coats a spoon.
5. Beat 225 g of corn masa with 225 g of melted lard and the litre of pork broth, then cook it over low heat, stirring 25 to 30 minutes, until it pulls away from the pan.
6. Spread a ladle of masa on each leaf, spoon over plenty of recado, add pork, a few green olives, capers and a strip of chile.
7. Fold the leaf into a sealed parcel and tie it with strips of leaf or string.
8. Boil the parcels upright in a covered pot for 1 hour 30, topping up with water. Guatemalan tamales are boiled, not steamed.
9. Let them rest 15 minutes before opening so the masa sets.

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