Nacatamales or Honduran tamales are a typical Honduran dish that is usually prepared for big celebrations such as Christmas and New Year’s. Although its preparation can be tedious, it is a very simple recipe, so if you want to eat a traditional dish with your family, follow the steps of this Honduran recipe and enjoy.
Ingredients to make Honduran Tamales:
- 4 pounds of cornmeal
- 1 package of banana leaves
- 3 pounds of lard
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 piece of coriander
- ½ unit of Onion
- 2 units of Tomato
- 1 pinch of salt and pepper
Filling
- Meat
- Cooked rice
- Garbanzo beans
- Cooked potatoes
How to make Honduran Tamales:
To make the dough, the first step is to place the flour in a bowl of water. The amount of water will be necessary for the dough to be smooth and without lumps. Separately, make a sauce by blending the garlic, onion, coriander and tomato. Season with salt, pepper and the condiments that you like the most. You can use some ground cumin and oregano.
Mix this sauce with the corn flour dough until everything is well integrated. Take this to a pot and cook over low heat along with the lard. Stir constantly until the dough has a hard, gelatinous consistency. Reserve and let cool. To make the filling, prepare the meat to taste, fry a little cooked rice, potatoes and chickpeas. The pork meat can be prepared following the pulled pork sandwich recipe, for the rice use a classic white rice. To assemble the Honduran nacatmales, first place a piece of aluminum foil and a square of banana leaf on top. Then, place a portion of dough in the center, on top of it some meat, rice, potatoes and chickpeas.
Next, wrap the tamales in a traditional way, trying to get all the filling inside, tightly packed. You can tie with a strip of the same sheet or with kitchen string. If you want a detailed explanation of this step you can review the recipe for Peruvian Creole tamales.
Steam the tamales, so to do this, place a little water in a tall pot with some banana leaves at the bottom and place the tamales interspersed on top. Cover and let the water boil for about 60-90 minutes.
