Recipe: Nacatamales

Blog by David

The most important room in a Nicaraguan home is the kitchen. Usually the walls and roof are caked with soot from the wood-fired fogon, which roars with heat while a woman or girl conjures up all the necessary sustenance for her entire family. In a normal day, most Nicaraguans eat rice and beans, or gallo pinto, for breakfast with cuajada (farm cheese) and a tortilla. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, sometimes featuring a meat dish and always including gallo pinto, a fried plantain and a tortilla. For dinner people often eat leftovers. It may seem that Nicaraguan cooking is somewhat monotonous, but when you look further, it turns out that there is plenty of depth to the Nicaraguan culinary repertoire.

As I am extremely excited about anything to do with cooking, when I heard that the mayor's office was offering a class on Nicaraguan cooking, I signed up immediately at no cost at all. Every Saturday for the past 2 months, I have been getting together with 30 women to learn how to prepare a variety of Nicaraguan entrees, desserts and beverages.

Of course I am the only male pupil – a fact that I emphasize by wearing my pink, polka-dotted apron to class. And I've received an extremely warm welcome in this territory that traditionally does not belong to men. On these Saturday mornings, I've learned all kinds of uses for corn that I didn't even know existed, and I have also shared with these women more efficient ways to prepare food that I learned when I worked at a restaurant in the US.

Corn is an amazing food. I have learned how to make main dishes like Indio Viejo, a deliciously thick stew; atol, a sweet pudding; and pinol, a nutritious drink made with corn, cacao and cinnamon. (Nicaraguans are often called pinoleros, i.e. folks that like pinol).

Last week my class made nacatamales, a traditional Nicaraguan food made for special occasions. Everyone, including Sarah and I, loves nacatamales. A nacatamal is a banana leaf pouch that contains corn dough, pork, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, rice and mint. They look like little green packages ready for a picnic. Early in the morning, we sometimes hear vendors walking through town announcing “Nacatamaaaaaaaaaales.” Hmm...I'm getting hungrier and hungrier as I talk about them. If you are too, try out the following recipe. (Keep in mind that nacatamales are pretty easy to make, though they are somewhat time-consuming.)

Nacatamales

3 lb Maseca

½ lb lard (or butter)

2 lb pork loin, cubed

2 lb beef loin, cubed

2 Tb achiote

¼ cup red wine vinagre

3 lb tomatoes

2 tsp beef bullion

3 lb potatoes

2 large green peppers, sliced

2 lb onions

4 garlic cloves

3 oranges

1 bunch mint

½ L milk

1 cup rice

60 banana leaves

1 bunch twine or food rope (each about 1 m long)

Combine 2 lb of sliced tomatoes, 1 lb of onions, 1 green pepper, the juice of two oranges, 2 Tb achiote, 3 tsp beef bullion and ½ bunch of mint in a blender and blend them all up.

Hand mix the maseca and the water. Once it is thoroughly incorporated, add the blended mixture and place in large pot over high heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens enough to create a deliciously thick and moist dough.

While the dough is thickening, have someone slice the leftover potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and carrots. De-leaf the mint stems and set them aside.

To construct your Nacatamal, place two banana leaves on your work table (one as a rectangle and another in a diamond). Place a dollop of the cooked dough in the middle. Place a slice of each of the veggies and mint. Fold up the parallel sides and fold down. Then grab one side and fold towards the middle. Compact the open side, then fold towards the middle. Wrap the twine around the nacatamal like you would tie a gift, creating a cross in the middle, and tie the twine to secure the banana leaf. Place the nacatamal in the large pot of boiling water.

Boil for about 2 hours.

Let cool and serve.

P.S. Sarah and I have been compiling recipes during our time here in Nicaragua, and we are putting them together into a cookbook. We are hoping that by the end of our service term we will have completed it and perhaps can get them printed too. We plan on featuring recipes old and new, east coast and west coast, corn and other ingredients. Let us know if you are interested in buying a copy once we print it.