Ligia's Nacatamales

Ligia's Nacatamales - by Chris Hildebrand
(Quantity - 50)

Nacatamales are a traditional dish from Nicaragua. Many countries make tamales, but these are very distinctive. My friends Pedro and Ligia Romero have been kind enough to let me participate in several nacatamale adventures, so that I can try and learn how to make them myself. It's a craft that is passed down from mother to daughter. Ligia's mother was well known in their town for making nacatamales. I'm hoping to carry on the tradition in Juneau. Nacatamales are a special treat for Saturday night dinner or Sunday morning breakfast in Nicaragua. Nacatamales are to be eaten with bread and butter and coffee or Pepsi. They are a meal in themselves. Please note that I should have put approximately in front of every ingredient. Like all good cooks, Ligia (and her mother and grandmother before her) cooks by taste, feel and sight. I've tried to quantify things, just to make the task of shopping and planning easier. One other thing - nacatamales are always better made with lots of good friends, Spanish music, dancing and laughter!!!

Pork stock
2 days in advance (Thursday night)
Boil 4 lbs. of pork bones with salt, garlic, basil and chunk of pork rind (the pork rind will be incorporated into the nacatamales) to make pork stock for the masa. Refrigerate.

Masa (Friday night)
12 dozen small, white corn tortillas - chopped very fine
3 lbs. potatoes, cooked and mashed with butter and a little salt
1 lb. rice, cooked, with a little oil and salt - keep adding water as it cooks so that the rice grains become soft and the whole mixture is very soft and "mushy." There should not be distinctive grains of rice.
juice of two whole lemons
1/2 c. white vinegar
one small, yellow onion chopped very, very fine
bacon drippings or rendered pork fat

After chopping the tortillas very fine, put them in a large pan and add enough pork stock to cover, lemon juice and vinegar. Let this mixture sit a bit to soften the tortillas. (This is a good time to prepare the meat and vegetables for tomorrow's activities). Cook the tortilla mixture over fairly high heat in batches (just depends on how big your pans are). Heat some of the pork fat first and then add the tortilla mixture. Sprinkle in some of the onions, dividing them as you divide the masa. Stir constantly. You know the masa is done when it gets very shiny and pulls away from the pan, into one big ball. It's very similar to the change yeast bread dough makes when you've kneaded it enough.

Mix the cooked tortilla mixture, cooked rice and mashed potatoes together in a big pan. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more vinegar and lemon juice as desired. It should have a nice, tart taste. Smooth out the masa mixture, sprinkle a little water on it (to keep it from drying out overnight), cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Meat (Friday night)
15 lbs of pork meat (Ligia says to use whatever is on sale). It shouldn't be too fatty, but a nice marbling makes it more tender and tasty. The juices from the raw meat cook into the masa.
4 - 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
a little salt
Cut the meat into fairly uniform pieces - 4 to 6 ounces each. They fit better on the nacatamales if they are long and thin, instead of squarish. They will also cook better that way. Mix in the tomato sauce and a little salt, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Count the pieces to make sure how many nacatamales you will be able to make.

Vegetables (Friday night)
2 good sized bunches of green onions - chopped crosswise into 3 inch lengths (1/3's)
5 very large tomatoes - cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise
2 large, yellow onions - cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise
2 large green bell peppers - sliced into thin strips
2 large red bell peppers - sliced into thin strips
5 large jalapeño peppers - sliced thin crosswise into rings
2 large bunches of cilantro - washed, ends trimmed (mint can also be used)
As you are slicing, count to make sure you have sufficient quantities. For example, if you have 5 large tomatoes and are going to make 50 nacatamales, make sure that each half gets cut into 10 slices, so that you will have 1 whole slice of tomato per nacatamale. Each jalapeño should yield 10 slices. Put everything into separate containers, cover and refrigerate overnight.

You should also prepare the wrappings for the nacatamales:
aluminum foil - 2 pieces for each nacatamale - one 12 x 14, one 12 x 8
waxed paper - one for each nacatamale - 10 x 10
string - one for each nacatamale - about 3 feet long

Additional Ingredients/Preparation (Saturday morning)
3 c raw rice (not instant) - washed well and soaking in warm water to cover
5 small potatoes - cut in half lengthwise and sliced very, very thin - soaking in water
1 small jar capers - large or small capers
1 medium jar green, stuffed olives - large or small olives
pitted prunes - 1 lb.
salt pork - that was cooked with the stock makings - sliced thin

Assembling the nacatamales
Now you must arrange everything in the order of assembly and so it is reachable.
1. Your wrappers should be first, then your masa, meat, rice, and potato
2. olives, capers, prunes, salt pork and jalapeño
3. other vegetables

1. Put the large piece of foil in front of you, facing you like a diamond with a point toward you, not square to you
2. Put the smaller piece of foil on top of that, lengthwise, the long way, at the top of the point on the bottom foil, or just above the top point
3. Put the waxed paper on top of that, in the diamond configuration, matching the top point of the waxed paper with the top point of the underneath piece of foil
4. Sprinkle a bit of rice water or potato water in the middle of the waxed paper
5. In the middle of your waxed paper put a good handful of masa - perhaps 4" x 5-1/2" - it should be fairly compact and flat
6. Take a piece of meat, with its sauce, and bend it into a horseshoe and place it on top of the masa.
7. In the U-shaped pocket of the meat put a small portion of rice
8. On top of the rice put a few capers and a couple of olives (only one olive if you use the really big ones - a couple if smaller and the same with capers)
9. Along the sides of the masa press in 4 thin slices of potato
10. At the bottom of each nacatamale place a prune
11. At the top of each nacatamale put a jalapeño on one side and a piece of salt pork on the other
12. Now add the vegetables - doesn't really matter what order, but usually green (a couple of pieces) and yellow onions (one-half slice), red and green peppers (several strips each), tomato (two - half slices) and cilantro (a sprig or two)
13. Add another sprinkle of rice or potato water

Sealing the nacatamale packets
1. Grab the far point of tin foil and the point nearest to you and bring them together, making sure you've also gathered the waxed paper
2. Press the foil together down to the nacatamale and gently fold it up together
3. Press the right side of the foil up to the nacatamale, gently squeezing it together and squishing it in a bit at the corners to make sure you seal in the contents. Bring that point to the center of the nacatamale
4. Stand the nacatamale on the end that has been sealed and gently squeeze the foil down to the nacatamale on the end that is now upright. Again, squish together the edges near the nacatamale to seal it in tight, and then bring the fold end into the middle with the other end. Standing it on end helps get everything settled and compacted.
5. Take the string and wrap it around the length and width of the nacatamale packet, just like you're wrapping a present, making sure the string is over the ends of the wrappers, to hold them in tight.

Cooking the nacatamales
The nacatamales must boil/steam for 3 hours. They need to be in a lidded container, but the size and shape doesn't matter. Line the container with foil, leaving long ends at the top to fold over and help seal in the packets. Place the nacatamales upright, on end, with the outside, longest folded end of foil pointed down - to prevent water from running into the packets. The nacatamales don't have to be all covered with water, but there should be enough water so that it doesn't boil dry and all get steamed well. Fold the foil over the top of the pan, put on the lid and turn the burner up on high until the water is boiling well. Turn the burner down to medium for the duration of the cooking time, after you hear the water boiling well. Now you can wash dishes, clean up the kitchen, visit, sing, dance, eat chicharrones made from the fat and small pieces of meat you trimmed from the pork, etc. After 3 hours you should take out one of the nacatamales to check and make sure they're done. Make sure the rice is completely cooked (not hard), meat is cooked and potatoes on side are done. Pull the nacatamales out and set them in a pan, on end to drain and cool a bit. If you try and eat them right away, the masa tends to be pretty moist and runny. Let them sit and drain for a few minutes and they will still be warm enough to eat, but will be much firmer and easier to eat.

I know that 50 sounds like a lot, but we have made over 200 at a time, and there never seem to be leftovers. Once you've tried them, you can't get enough. If you have 3 or 4 people help you, and they each get some for their family and a few to share, 50 won't last long at all. This is my feeble attempt to try and quantify some of the basics of nacatamale making for the "gringo." The only way to really learn is to study under a master - watching, helping and learning.

I remember when I was in junior high school and I was taking a home ec class. I came home and told my mother she really didn't know how to cook because she didn't usually use recipes, she never took the back of the knife and leveled off the cup measures, etc., etc. Now I am my mother. I do actually have some recipes that I follow pretty closely, because their chemistry demands it. Most of the time, however, I just use a recipe as a jumping off place. If you were to ask me for one of my recipes, most would look like this one - although probably not four pages long. I would give you the basic ingredients and proportions as found in a book or on someone else's recipe card and then give you at least a paragraph of narrative about what I usually do, or don't do, or add, or what I've thought of adding…. That's the beauty of cooking. That's the beauty of these nacatamales. My daughter Heather helped me in making nacatamales with Ligia. She's now learned from the master also and will be able to help me remember and refine. We want to teach our friends at work how to make them and share our results with our teacher. I hope you'll give this a try. Or maybe have a friend from another ethnic background teach you how to make eggrolls or sauerbraten or something else that gives you a chance to compare cultures and families and just generally make friends around and through the dinner table. Enjoy!! Chris