Nacatamal

Ingredients

• Masa harina800 g
• Pork — in large pieces1 kg
• Lard250 g
• Rice — soaked150 g
• Potatoes — sliced500 g
• Onions2
• Bell pepper1
• Tomatoes2
• Achiote2 tbsp
• Sour orange or lime3
• Fresh mint20 g
• Olives16
• Banana leaves16
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Marinate the pork overnight in sour orange juice, achiote, garlic, salt and pepper.

   20 min

2. 2

   Soak the rice two hours and drain it.

   10 min

3. 3

   Slake the masa harina with warm water, add the melted lard, achiote and salt, and work it fifteen minutes until smooth.

   20 min

4. 4

   Pass the banana leaves over a flame so they turn pliable.

   12 min

5. 5

   On a leaf place a large spoon of dough, then pork, rice, potato slices, onion, pepper, tomato, an olive and a mint leaf.

   35 min

6. 6

   Wrap in two leaves into a tight parcel and tie it crosswise with string.

   25 min

7. 7

   Boil them in a large pot for three hours, topping up with boiling water as it goes.

   185 min

About the dish

A nacatamal is several times the size of a Mexican tamal: one is a full breakfast for a person. Not only meat goes inside but rice, potato, olives and mint.

The pork is marinated overnight in sour orange and achiote. It goes in raw and cooks inside the dough for three hours, which is enough.

They are eaten on Sunday mornings, and in Nicaragua that is a ritual: nacatamales are bought from neighbours who have been boiling them since the night before, and the family breakfasts on them.

Worth knowing

• — The parcels are boiled rather than steamed — that is what separates a nacatamal from a Mexican tamal, and it gives a moister texture.
• — Tie them tight. One that opens in the pot takes on water and turns to porridge.
• — They freeze well. Reheat by boiling them twenty minutes, still wrapped.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

720 kcal

Protein

30 g

Fat

40 g

Carbs

64 g

More from Nicaragua

• Nicaraguan gallo pinto — Rice fried with red beans. The Nicaraguan version: red beans, and no Salsa Lizano.