Honduran Chicken Nacatamales Recipes

HONDURAN CHICKEN NACATAMALES

Steps:

• In a blender, add about 1 cup of water, one bell pepper, cilantro, and 3 Tablespoons of Knorr® Selects Granulated Chicken Bouillon. Blend until well mixed.
• Add the seasoned blend and the masa flour in a big pot and mix well. Add liquid lard or oil and cook on medium stirring once in a while until it thickens. Separate one-third of the masa in another pot.
• Cook the chicken along with the other bell pepper, 2 tablespoons of Knorr® Selected Granulated Chicken Bouillon achiote in hot water. Mix to dissolve the achiote. Once the chicken is cooked, reserve half a cup of the broth and add it to the masa that you had previously separated.
• To make this red masa add a bit of lard or oil as well and cook until it thickens a bit more. You may add water if it thickens too much.
• Roast your plantain leaves on a comal or on the stovetop, just until they soften. This will allow you to bend them without ripping them.
• Prep your "nacatamales assembly station" with all the fixings: partially cooked rice, cubed potatoes, pieces of the chicken you just cooked, sweet peas, capers, olives, and the two masas.
• To assemble each nacatamal, choose a plantain leaf that is at least 3 times as wide as how you want the nacatamales to be. Place it on a clean surface and add about a serving spoon of the white masa in the center, and spread it out into a rectangle, to be used a base. On top, lay all of the fixings and top them off with about a couple of spoonfuls of the red masa, pressing it down a bit.
• Fold the tamales like you would fold a small gift (watch the video for guidance) and use string to secure the sides both horizontally and vertically.
• Prep a tall and large pot with a couple of plantain leaves used as a base - this is to prevent the tamales from burning. Start stacking your tamales inside the pot and add hot water to them, until you cover the very last one. Boil and cook for about 40mins.
• Unwrap each nacatamal and enjoy its goodness with lime, sour cream and/or hot sauce!

NACATAMALES (ANY BANANA LEAF WRAPPED CENTRAL AMERICAN TAMALES)

Steps:

• Season the pork with salt, pepper,cumin and paprika to taste. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the chipotle salsa (depending on how hot you like it) to the pork. Place in a large bowl and pour 1/4 cup sour orange juice over pork. Cover and let marinate for about 30 minutes in refrigerator.
• Place the masa harina, lard,salt, and 2 tablespoons of the chicken knorr in the bowl of an electric mixer. Blend on a low speed to incorporate the fat into the masa harina and give it a mealy texture. You may have to do this and the next step in two batches if your mixer bowl is not large enough to hold all the ingredients without overflowing.
• With the mixer still on low speed, add remaining 1/2 cup of the sour orange juice and enough chicken stock to make a soft, moist dough (about 7 cups added intermitently between mixing). It should be almost like the texture of mashed potatoes but thicker. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 2-3 minutes to incorporate some air into the masa and make it fluffier. Cover the bowl and set the masa aside to rest for at least 30 minutes.
• After the resting period, place the masa in a large pot and on medium heat, stir the masa slowly and constantly for about 20 mintues adding 2 more cups of water or chichen stock (1/2 cup every 5 minutes for the 20 mintues of stirring). Remove from heat and set aside.
• Drain the marinade from the pork and set aside. Heat oil in large frying pan on high heat. Once it is heated, add the cubed pork and brown for abour 3 minutes (being careful of splattering oil). Set aside and let cool for about 5 minutes Reserve pan juices from pork in another bowl.
• Place the rice (with the watere still in it) in a microwave safe bowl and cook for about 2 minutes. The rice will be semi cooked. Set aside.
• Assemble all of your filling ingredients and assembly items on a large table or work surface. Gather family and friends to help in an assembly line.
• Lay out a banana leaf square with the smooth side up. Place 1 cup of the masa in the middle of the banana leaf and, using wetted hands, spread it out a little. Put about 4 pieces of pork on top of the masa and sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons of rice over the pork. Lay 5 or 6 pieces of potato on top of the pork, add 1 table spoon green beans/garganzo beans, add 1 olive and add a little bit of the pan juices from the pork. Top off with 1 or 2 cilantro leaves.
• Fold the top edge of the banana leaf down over the filling. Bring the bottom edge of the banana leaf up over this. Then fold in both sides to make a rectangular package. Be careful not to wrap it too tightly or the filling will squeeze out. Flip the package over so it is seam side down.
• Set the tamal in the middle of an aluminum foil square and wrap it up tightly the same way you wrapped up the banana leaf. Set aside and repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 10 to 12 nacatamales in total.
• Add 2 or 3 inches of water to a tamalera or pot large enough to hold all the nacatamales. (You may have to use two pots if you don't have one big enough to hold the nacatamales in one batch.) Place a rack in the bottom or toss in enough wadded up aluminum foil to hold the nacatamales mostly out of the water. Add the nacatamales and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover tightly, reduce heat to low and steam for about 3 hours. Add more water as needed to keep the pot from boiling dry.
• Once cooked, drain the water and let tamales rest for atleast 2 hours in the pot so that the masa can become firm.
• Remove the nacatamales from the pot, take off their aluminum foil covering and serve warm. Each diner opens the banana leaf on his or her own nacatamal before eating.
• This is MY family recipe. Nacatamales are a general name used for ANY central American tamale wrapped in a banana leaf, not just Nicaraguan. If you make yours differently, that's great! But keep in mind that there is no authentic recipe so PLEASE do not compare MY recipe to other recipes as I am sure everyones is different. It is very helpful to others if you rate according to your experience and result with this particular recipe. Thanks and enjoy!

HONDURAN TAMALES

Steps:

• Pour about 3/4 the masa harina into a large pot. Add water in batches, mixing until a moderately thin batter forms.
• Combine tomato, green bell pepper, onion, cilantro, cumin, and bouillon in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into the large pot with the batter and season with salt. Pour about 5 cups of this combined mixture into a smaller pot; add tomato paste and stir until it is an even red color.
• Pour 2 cups oil into the large pot of batter; pour remaining 1 cup oil into the smaller pot of red batter. Bring both pots to a boil, stirring continuously to prevent burning. Cook until flavors set, 3 to 5 minutes more. Remove from heat.
• Cut banana leaves into 12x15-inch rectangles. Spoon 1 cup regular batter and 1/4 cup red batter into the center of each leaf. Add small amounts of pork, potatoes, rice, and peas. Fold leaf over the filling several times; fold sides in. Wrap twine around tamale to hold in place.
• Place tamales in a large pot; cover halfway with water. Cover and cook over medium heat until filling has thickened, about 1 hour.