TAMAL VALLUNO

The tamal valluno is one of the many variants of Colombian tamal, one of the most demanded dishes of Colombian cuisine.

Ingredients

To make 20 tamales we will need:

• Maize dough for tamales, two kilos
• Several banana leaves
• Pork, three pounds
• Thigh or chicken drumstick, about 20 dams
• Long onion, about three pounds
• A head of garlic
• chili pepper
• A paprika
• Oregano, thyme, salt, cumin, pepper, saffron and some more seasoning if we want
• Pea half pound
• One kilo of peeled and chopped tomatoes
• Half a pound of carrot
• Ten pounds of brown potatoes

How to prepare dough for tamales?

1. First we must put the corn to soak for three days, making a change of water every day.
2. Drain the water and grind the corn
3. We cook the corn for two hours, wait until it softens, we strain and drain again.
4. We grind the corn again and add the water to form a homogeneous mass.
5. Finally we knead the resulting dough

The tamale filling

1. First of all we marinated the meat seasoned with garlic, onion, salt and pepper, and let them marinate for two days in the fridge.
2. Sauté the onions, the garlic, the chilli, the paprika. After a while add the tomatoes, season and add cumin and saffron. When everything is left on low heat for an hour.
3. We make a sofrito with all the dressings during 30 min on a low heat.

Preparation

We have everything ready, we just need to give the final touch to our tamales:

• On two banana leaves add the dough, the guiso and any other ingredient or seasoning.
• We close the two leaves, wrapping the dough and the filling and tie them with beyuco or cabuya
• Finally we prepare a pot with plenty of water, and when it is boiling, pour the tamales and let them cook for an hour and a half.