Tamale (Nicaraguan Nactamales)

Nacatamal is a big Central American version of the Mexican tamale. A nacatamal always contains maize dough, rice, potatoes, meat and vegetables but the exact ingredients vary from family the family. Below you will find a basic recipe that you can use for further experimentation. You can for instance substitute or complement the pork with pieces of chicken, add more spices and peppers, or include Mediterranean imports like raisins, capers, garlic and olives. In Honduras nacatamales are usually prepared for special occasions only, like Christmas and wedding celebrations, but in Nicaragua they are a common as breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the year.

Dough:
6 cups masa de harina
1 cup lard or shortening
1 Tbsp. sea salt
½ cup sour orange juice, freshly squeezed
4-5 cups chicken stock or broth

Filling:
¾ cup rice
3 lbs pork butt
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground
½ lb potato
1 onion
2 sweet peppers
2 tomatoes
1 bunch fresh mint

Assembly:
12 banana leaf for each nacatamal
12 pieces of 10×10" aluminium foil

Make the Dough:
Mix masa de harina, lard / shortening and salt together in a bowl. The easiest way of doing this is to use an electric mixer, but the traditional way is of course to do it by hand. It is important to fully incorporate the fat into the flour; the end result should have a mealy texture. For the novice, doing two or three small batches may be easier than trying to do the entire batch at once.

Mix in the sour orange juice and enough chicken stock or broth to make a soft, moist dough. It should just be a tad firmer than mashed potatoes. Knead for several minutes to make the dough fluffier.

Cover the bowl and leave to rest for at least half an hour.

Make the Filling:
Soak the rice in warm water for half an hour.

Cube the pork butt and season it with salt and pepper.

Peel and slice the potatoes and onion into ¼" rounds

Slice the sweet peppers and tomatoes into ¼" rounds.

Drain the rice.

Assemble the Nacatamals: 
Remove the hard spine from the banana leaves and cut the leaves into 10×10 inch rectangles.

Lay out a banana leaf with the smooth side up.

Place one cup of dough in the centre of the leaf, wet your hands, and spread out the dough.

Place roughly ½ cup of pork on top of the dough.

Sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp. of rice over the pork, add 1-2 slices of potato and finish off with 1-2 pieces of onion, 1-2 pieces of pepper, and a slice of tomato. Place a few mint leaves on top.

Carefully fold the top edge of the leaf down over the filling and bring the bottom edge up over the top to make a sort of envelope. Fold both sides in and you’ll have a small rectangular package. If you warp too tightly, the filling will squeeze its way out when the nacatamal is steamed.

Place the nacatamal with the seam side down on a piece of aluminium foil and wrap it up tightly, just like you did with the banana leaf.

Repeat until you have a dozen nacatamales.

Before the advent of aluminium foil, nacatamales were just tied together with strings. You can still see this done by skilled Nicaraguan housewives and chefs, but if this is your first time preparing nacatamales I suggest you start out with aluminium foil.

What you Need to Steam the Nacatamales:
You’ll need a large pot or several small ones. Nacatamales take up quite a lot of space and you need to steam them for 3-4 hours so having to do one batch after another because your pot is too small will be rather time consuming, even by Nicaraguan standards. In Nica, it is a tamalera (tamale steamer) is commonly used, a big galvanized steamer where the inside bottom is raised with steam slats.

How to Steam the Nacatamales:
If you don’t have a tamalera with steam slats, place a rack over the bottom of your pot or toss in wadded pieces of aluminium. The important thing is to hold the nacatamales mostly out of the water.

Add 2-3 " of water to the pot.

Place the nacatamales in the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Put on a tight fitting lid, turn down the heat and leave the nacatamales to be steamed for 3-4 hours. Check the pot regularly and, if necessary, add more water to keep it from boiling dry.

When the nacatamales are ready, take off the aluminium wrapping and serve them right away. They should be served with the banana leaf unopened; each dinner guest opens his or her banana leaf on her own. And no, you’re not supposed to eat the banana leaf.

Makes 1 dozen.

Cook's Notes:

• Sour Orange Juice?  Sour oranges - naranja agria – are common in Latin American cooking. They come from the citrus tree Citrus aurantium. In the English language, the fruit is known as sour orange, bitter orange, bigarade orange, Seville orange, or marmalade orange. If you fail to find Citrus aurantium you can substitute it with a mix of 4 parts lime juice, 2 parts orange juice, 2 parts lemon juice, and a pinch of lemon rind.
• Where Do I Find Banana Leaves?  Banana leaves are commonly sold in shops specializing in Asian or Latin American food. They can also be ordered on line, e.g. on e-bay. If all else fails, use corn husks instead.
• Banana Leaves:  It is possible to give the nacatamal a personal touch by substituting the banana leaves for other large leaves. If you want to try to use a smaller leaf then you can do that as well. In this case you will have to place the small leaves in between the stuffing and the banana leaf.
• Adding Some Herbs:  By using herbs this way you can get a very interesting nacatamal that has a different taste in the center compared to the area that was closer to the wrap. You are only limited by your imagination.