It is a Costa Rican tradition to gather together for a day to cook tamales. It is usually the women who cook all the elements that go into the tamales with the help of the men to collect the banana leaves and tend the wood fire. We were fortunate this year to receive an invitation from Celina and Lilo to their family tamal day.
The preparations start the day before with Lilo chopping down scores of huge banana leaves from his grove. The whole leaf is held over the coals of a wood fire to "cure". The leaves are stripped from the stalk and segmented into 9"x9" squares. Each square is wiped down with a damp cloth to remove any smoky film from the fire. Tamales can have different meat and vegetables, even raisins as a stuffing. The Mora family prefer pork. For a vegetarian tamal, green beans can be substituted for meat. In the night, Celina slow-cooked the small pieces of pork with garlic, onions and spices. In the morning, she made a huge batch of rice with cilantro and a spice called achiote. Achiote can be made bought as a paste or powder. Made from ground annatto seeds, this bright orange-red spice has a peppery aroma and a flavor that's been described as nutty, sweet, and earthy. This spice is very popular with Costa Ricans and is a particular favorite of Lilo.
When M and I arrived at 8 am, Celina, Marguarit, (Lilo's sister-in-law), Jennifer, Marisa (Lilo's daughters) had been busy cooking for a couple of hours. As the menfolk sat in the hammocks and had a fortifying beer, I got out my vegetable peeler and helped with peeling the potatoes and carrots. These 2 vegetables were chopped into relatively thick chunks.
The potatoes and carrots are boiled for a short time to soften them up a bit before they are added to the tamal. The most important element that is cooked just before we made the tamales is the Masa. It is what we know as polenta. Marisa was telling me that her grandmother would have to grind the dried corn (which her grandfather grew), sift it into flour, add the spices before even thinking about making the Masa. Now you can buy the corn flour mix at the store.
Convenient and so much easier than in the old days. As it says on the package, just add water! For a richer, tastier masa, they added manteca (pork lard) and a little bit of black pepper. Two and a half packages of this Tamal flour was poured into the huge cast iron cauldron. The goal for the day was to make 80 tamales. The masa is slowly stirred as the wood fire heats the mixture up to a simmering boil. Years of cooking experience is required to cook the masa over an open wood fire. The masa can't be too thin or it will run all
over the place. It can't be too thick either.
It didn't take very long to achieve the desired result, then the cauldron was removed from the fire and allowed to cool for a short time before the real fun began.
I have a lot of admiration for my friends' ability in cooking over a wood fire. It's not like you can just turn a dial to adjust the temperature. Besides, the wood first has to be harvested, then diced into smaller pieces and dried. Then the fire is started and the coals tended until it provides an even heat. It is a process that I, as a North American, rarely need to consider. For my neighbors, this a almost a daily experience. They have gas cooktops and slow cookers. However, most "serious" broiling, roasting, grilling is done over a wood fire. With the Masa cooled to a perfect consistency, all the elements for making a tamal are ready. Two large tables were moved to under the outside awning on which the cauldron of Masa was placed in the middle with smaller serving dishes filled with pork, rice, potatoes, carrots. The banana leaf wrappings were divided into 2 piles, one on each table. Lilo and M had a smaller table to the side with 2' long segments of plastic string. Their job was to pair up the tamal and wrap them with string. For us gringos, the lessons on the technique of wrapping tamales began. Taking 2 banana leaves and lay the bottom square at a 90 degree angle so that one corner is pointing directly at you. Place the other banana leaf at a 45 degree angle so that they make a 8 pointed star. Take a scoop of the Masa, drop it on the leaf, than a spoonful of rice and place it on the Masa.
Next a piece of pork in the middle with a piece of carrot and potato on each side. Take the 2 corners of the leaf, fold over and roll them down, making sure not to squeeze the roll too tight. As the mixture will squirt out each end. Then take the left end of the roll and squeeze the end towards the middle to make sure the mixture is centered in the leaf, fold over the left end to seal it. Turn the roll upright, tap the sealed bottom a couple times on the table to get the mixture in the center, then fold over the open end. It is then handed to Lilo and M to get paired and tied. I received lots of good humored tutoring on my rolling technique. With lots of joking and laughter, we rolled 126 tamales in about an hour.
With all the tamales tied up in string, they are placed in huge pot of boiling water (over the wood fire) for the final step. After 30 minutes, the flavoring of the leaves are soaked into the flavors of the stuffing. The vegetables are perfectly tender and this delicious meal in a leaf is ready to eat. As the tamales were boiling, we relaxed in the hammocks that hang from the wide branches of a huge mango tree. We chatted with Lilo's son Fabian who just completed his first year of university in San José. He is studying to become a lawyer. Jennifer is a dental hygienist in Paso Canoas. Marisa, Lilo's other daughter graduated from university in Business Admin. She is taking time off to raise her son, Daniel. Daniel is almost 3 and loves his abuelo. Marguarit, lives next door and her 2 teenage daughters were helping out too.
What a difference a year makes. Since this time last year, Lilo and his family have been generous with their time and knowledge. They have helped us to settle into this neighborhood in many ways. Along the way, M and I have enjoyed their friendship and fun-loving sense of humor. In the last year, my comprehension of their language has improved immensely. Again, each of them is helpful in explaining words and ideas that I don't comprehend. My conversational skill is improving too. I don't have the vocabulary to be as descriptively verbal as I usually am in English. Though I know enough to share in a conversation. The very useful expression "!Que bueno!" can cover most any situation.
With this wonderful experience, I'm happy to say that I feel very welcome. We shared in a deeply traditional family event and felt like family too.
With the added benefit of coming home with about a dozen tamales. Bonus!
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