Tamal de puerco
The simple pork tamale from Adriana Cavita is filled with a tomatoey pork and morita chilli filling, and wrapped in a banana leaf rather than the traditional corn husks. It's served with a tomatillo sauce.
Ingredients
Green sauce
- 1kg tomatillos
- 80g of jalapeños
- 8g of garlic cloves
- 1 pinch of ground cumin
- 500ml of water
- salt
Red sauce - salsa de jitomate cocida
- 8 tbsp of tomatoes , peeled and washed
- 1/4 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 fresh jalapeño peppers , or 1
- 2 dried morita chillies , seeds removed (or seeds left in, if you like more of a kick)
- 20g of fresh coriander , roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
Tamal dough
Assembly
- 500g of pork leg , cut into cubes
- 1 tsp table salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 500g of banana leaf , cut into 30 x 30 cm squares
Method
For the green sauce, bring all the ingredients to a boil and then blend them together. Strain the sauce and set aside
- 1kg tomatillos
- 80g of jalapeños
- 8g of garlic cloves
- 1 pinch of ground cumin
- 500ml of water
- salt
Put all the ingredients for the red sauce in a saucepan with 480 ml water and cook over a medium–high heat for 15–20 minutes. Leave to cool down slightly
- 8 tbsp of tomatoes , peeled and washed
- 1/4 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 fresh jalapeño peppers , or 1
- 2 dried morita chillies , seeds removed (or seeds left in, if you like more of a kick)
- 20g of fresh coriander , roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp of sea salt
Transfer to a blender and blend to a smooth sauce. Alternatively, use a handheld stick/immersion blender. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and use within 3 days. You can pass the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve for an even smoother finish if you prefer
Brown the pork meat in a saucepan with a little oil. Once golden, add the salt and 1 litre of red sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook for 35 minutes or until the meat is soft. Set aside and let cool
- 500g of pork leg , cut into cubes
- 1 tsp table salt
To make the tamal dough, mix the duck fat and salt in a food mixer or in a large bowl. Add the nixtamalized corn dough and mix together until smooth. The dough should taste a bit salty, feel a bit loose and be easy to work with. If it's too hard the tamal will be dry. Add a bit of water or vegetable stock to make it more slack if necessary
Cook the banana leaves for 30 seconds in a large pot of boiling water. Once done, remove the leaves and let them dry for a few minutes
- 500g of banana leaf , cut into 30 x 30 cm squares
Place one leaf on the work surface and use your hand to spread about 60g of the tamal dough over the middle part of the leaf
Top with about 60g of the pork and sauce mixture
Use the outer edges of the leaf to fold the sides of the dough over the filling, enclosing it in the dough and making a square shape
Fold the leaf up so that it overlaps the filling and the folded edges, enclosing everything
Use a narrow strip of one of the spare leaves to securely tie the bottom edge of the parcel if you prefer. Repeat with the rest of the tamales
Preheat a steamer (tamalera). Add all the tamales in the steamer with care and leave to steam for 60 minutes over a medium heat
Serve straight away with some green sauce on the side
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Tamal de puerco
