A Taste of Nicaragua: Nacatamales

A tasty and popular dish in Nicaragua are nacatamales. Nacatamales are steamed corn cakes that can be filled with meat (chicken or pork) and vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, onions, bell peppers). After that the tamales are steamed in banana leaves, which gives the tamales a special flavor. You can add different chiles, raisins, or olives to add a spicy, yet savory flavor to the tamales. You can also add sour orange juice (naranja agria) that you can buy in a Latino store or make by using an orange and 2 limes. Usually nacatamales are eaten on Sunday mornings with some coffee or hot pinolillo. Nacatamales taste wonderful even after freezing and reheating them the next week after. Most Latin American countries have a variation of tamales, but Nicaragua's nacatamales are made bigger and are made with masa (corn) dough to add more filling to the tamale. Nacatamales can be eaten for special occasions like birthdays or weddings, basically any type of event that involves a large group of people. While most Nicaraguans use meat for the filling of nacatamales, vegetarians can substitute meat with tofu or cheese and use vegetables oil and water instead of lard (animal fat) and milk. Also if you can't find any green bananas leaves in your local supermarket, check any Asian or Latino stores. If you still can't find any, use cooking parchment paper or aluminum foil instead. Here is a recipe to make the traditional nacatamales, so make you have a couple hours to spare:

Ingredients:

2 cups of cornmeal
2 teaspoons of lime (to taste) or sour orange juice
1/4 cup of lard
1 chopped onion
2 cups of broth of your choice
2 garlic cloves minced
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh Parsley
Pinch of paprika
1 breast of chicken, cooked and cubed
1 pound meat of pork, cooked and cubed
2 tomatoes cubed
1/2 cup of cooked Chick-peas
4 teaspoons of capers
2 cups of mashed potatoes
12 stuffed olives chopped
1/2 cup of cooked Rice
Ground pepper to taste
10 banana leaves cut into about 16" squares
Salt to taste

Cover the corn with water.
Add the lime juice and cook on low heat until the hulls start to separate from the meal.
Rinse well with cold water.
Place in pot and cover with water.
Let sit for 3 days changing the water daily.
Drain and mash the corn.
Add 1/2 of the lard, salt to taste and knead slowly adding the broth little by little until the mass is soft and homogenous.
With the remainder of the lard brown the garlic, onion, peppers.
Add the parsley, tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
Add the meats and remaining ingredients cook for a few minutes until hot.
Wash and cut the banana leaves in squares. In the center place a spoonful of corn mass with a couple spoonfuls of the meat mixture. Wrap well to ensure no leakage with butcher's string.
Cook in boiling water with a bit of salt for 30 minutes.
Enjoy with a glass of cold chocolate milk and fresh fruit!

sources:

http://www.whats4eats.com/breads/nacatamales-recipe, http://hubpages.com/hub/Central-America---Discover-Nicaragua