Tamales

I used to spend Christmas holidays in Costa Rica and I have great memories of being invited to friends’ homes to share tamales on Christmas eve. Tamales are rarely eaten throughout the rest of the year, but are a Christmas eve tradition and every year my friend Jose Maria’s mother (and sister and aunts and friends) would get together and make around 250 of them and then trade with other friends and relatives who had made them with different kinds of fillings. It’s sort of like a cookie exchange - but with tamales.

I got to help on a couple of occasions and it was really a fun and festive time – all the more fun and festive because I didn’t have to make the corn dough that JM’s mother prepared from scratch. By the time I arrived it was a matter of assembling the tamales – chopping and mincing ingredients for the filling, cutting the plantain leaves and string to wrap the tamales, then wrapping them and boiling them. With a little music, a little wine, lots of talking.

One year when we didn’t get to CR, I made them for friends here and this year I decided to try them again. They aren’t exactly Costa Rican tamales because by the time I got around to buying my ingredients there weren’t any plantain leaves left and I bought corn husks instead. Corn husks are used for Mexican tamales and are steamed rather than boiled.

I used Maseca instant corn masa flour, which is very easy to make following directions on the package and I made two fillings - chicken and picadillo (ground beef). I lined each corn husk with the corn flour dough, then added a spoon of filling and wrapped and tied each tamale, then filled my steamers - a double boiler, a Oster steamer and a Chinese bamboo steamer.

I didn’t make 250 of them – because I don’t have anyone to trade with and I didn’t have friends over to share the tasks, but I will follow the tradition of having friends over on Christmas eve to share them.

Picadillo
1 Tbsp veg oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1-1/2 lbs minced beef
2 Tbsp tomato puree
1 green chili, seeded and finely chopped
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chopped oregano
2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 large potato, peeled and cut into small cubes

1) heat the oi8l in large pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
2) Add minced beef in batches and cook, stirring constantly with a fork to break up any lumps.
3) Stir in tomato puree, chili, chopped tomatoes, cumin, oregano and half the parsley. Season to taste, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook, covered for 20 minutes.
4) Add potato and cook, uncovered for another 20 minutes or until the potato is tender. Mix in remaining parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
5) Serve hot or use to fill empanadas, tamales, pies, etc.