My family has a tradition during the holidays. It's a tradition that for the past 2 years I've been learning as much as I can to continue on when those that have skilled it, are gone. That family tradition is Costa Rican tamales. My mom says that you aren't a Costa Rican if you do not eat a tamale(specifically Costa Rican one) during Christmas. It's a lot of hard work but the rewards are simple. Just watching those you love enjoy the tamale during Christmas is something special. I now understand why my mom endured this all these years.
It starts out with the ingredients. We first cook a pork shoulder in lots of spices in a giant pot and let it just boil and cook for a couple of hours. Let it cool down and pull it apart for the tamales. The water that was used to cook the pork shoulder is saved to cook the masa or cornmeal dough. You put the masa in and stir for a long time it seems, constantly stirring until the masa becomes thick. After the masa is at the right consistency you prepare the banana leaves. Usually they can be bought and come in a bag frozen. Thaw them out and separate them. Then you gently stir some rice with some sazon in a pot but do not cook the rice. Just enough for the rice to be warmed up and covered in sazon. Chop up some carrots, green bellpepper, red bellpepper, cook and chop up potatoes. Then we add green olives, capers, and peas.
We clear the kitchen and table and start setting up the "Tamale station" as I call it. This year I stuffed these bad boys myself. My mom watching everything with a very critical eye. She is very protective of these damn tamales. I think it's more of a pride thing. She takes a lot of pride in them so she doesn't want me to mess them up. It would give her a bad name. Anyway, so my mom set up the aluminum foil put the banana leaf square in the middle of the aluminum foil then put a dollop of masa in the middle of the banana leaf. She then handed them over to me and I added the bellpeppers, carrots, rice, peas, capers, olive, potatoes, and shredded pork. Handed back to her and she would wrap them up. This year I PACKED those bad boys. Ever step is crucial, and if you mess one thing up...the tamale is ruined. I love helping my mom because we talk and bound and she shows me what not to do and tricks that have taken her years to learn. Everyone said this years tamales were the best. I'd like to think that I had something to do with that.
After we make about 15 or so we put them in a big giant pot and boil them. This year we made about 50 and give them away to special friends and of course family. I think we only have a handful left and those we are saving for my big brother who will be home...eventually. This year we went to El Centro to spend Christmas with my cousin Carolina and my nieces. We brought the tamales and I actually cooked a ham. Had a hundred cookies and tons of ham, I thought "I'm never gonna be hungry again". Christmas was fantastic and our family had such an awesome time. Hope you had a good one too.
