Do�a Rossana Cooks Tamales

Doña Rossana cooks traditional Christmas Holiday meal- Tamales.

TAMALES

INGREDIENTS

10 lb Chicken drumsticks
8 lb Pork spare ribs
4 lb Italian sausages (15 cut in half after cooked)
10 cups of water
2 bay leaves
2 cups rice
3 cups white corn meal (masarepa)
1 lb Garbanzo beans
2 lb Calabaza (Spanish squash)
3 large carrots
26 prunes
26 green olives
26 capers
¼ lb parsley
1 lb wrapping paper for pasteles
String to tie the tamal
2 lb banana leaves
2 teaspoons cumin
¼ teaspoon saffron
¼ teaspoon yellow color
1 tablespoon achiote (annatto seeds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb white onions
1 large green pepper
1 large red pepper
1 lb Roman tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 sprig thyme
Fresh ground black pepper to taste


To make tamales all ingredients have to be pre-cooked.

The day before salt the meat, 2 tablespoons of salt for the chicken and 2 for the spare ribs.
Leave the garbanzo beans soaking in water in the refrigerator overnight.

Cook the garbanzo beans for two hours at low heat. In a large heavy pot boil the 10 cups of water with the bay leaves, add the chicken drumsticks, and cook them for 25 minutes at medium-high heat. Take the chicken out and let it stand aside. Cook the pork spare ribs in the chicken broth for 45 minutes. Take the ribs out, let them cool. Cook the Italian sausages for 25 minutes. Take them out, let them cool; cut them in half.
Save the pot with the broth, (discharge the bay leaves) to use it later.
Cook rice al dente. Cut the calabaza in cubes and cook it in 1 cup of water for 8 minutes.
Cook sliced carrots for 5 minutes.
Make sofrito: in a large pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add cut tomatoes, onions, red and green pepper, minced garlic, sprig of thyme, sprinkle salt and black pepper to taste. Cook it at medium-low heat for 12 minutes.
In a small pan heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil at low heat, add achiote, turn the heat off and let it stand for 10 minutes, discharge the achiote grains.

Boil the broth, lower the heat, very low, add the garbanzos, rice, calabaza, sofrito, and corn meal, stirring very gently, turn the heat off, add yellow color, cumin, saffron, and the colored oil from the achiote.

To wrap the tamales, place 1 sheet of paper, over the paper place 2 pieces of banana leaf, on top of the banana leaf place 5 ounces of the mixture, spreading it a bit, over the mixture place 1 drumstick, 1 piece of pork rib, ½ Italian sausage, 1 prune, 1 green olive, 1 caper, 1 slice of carrot, and a single sprig of parsley. On top of it place another 3 ounces of the mixture. Wrap the banana leaf, covering the tamal, then fold the paper, first at the center, then at the two ends, tie the tamal with the string.
Cook the tamales in a large pot. To keep the tamales dry, place a grill at the bottom of the pot, add 4 cups of water, fill the pot with tamales and cook for 1 hour at medium-high heat.

26 tamales of 20 ounces
Preparation and cooking time 6+ hours.