Banana Leaf Tamales
Mexican chicken tamales — spiced shredded chicken with carrots and peas wrapped in masa and steamed in banana leaves.
🍽️ Makes 25
Ingredients
| 1 pound package | banana leaves | |
| 1.5 pound | 680 g | chicken breast |
| 3 | garlic cloves, divided | |
| 1 | white onion | |
| 2 tbsp | 30 ml | olive oil |
| 4 | tomatoes, divided | |
| 1 | jalapeño pepper | |
| 1/4 - 1/2 tsp | 1.3–2.5 ml | cumin |
| 4-5 | bay leaves | |
| 1/2 can | sweet peas | |
| 3 | carrots | |
| 4 oz | 115 g | butter |
| 3 1/2 cups | 840 ml | Maseca corn masa flour |
| 5 cups | 1.2 l | water |
| 3 | dried pasilla or ancho chili pods, finely chopped | |
| — | salt |
Instructions
Filling:
- In a soup pan, add 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 onion roughly chopped, 3 whole tomatoes (unchopped), the chicken breast, chili pods and 1 tbsp of salt. Add water to cover, bring to a boil and simmer.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the rest of the onion, 1 garlic clove, 1 tomato and the jalapeño pepper (open it up and remove the stem and seeds).
- Heat a large skillet, add olive oil and the ingredients from step 2 and stir-fry.
- Add bay leaves and cumin to the stir-fry.
- Chop the cooked chicken breast into small chunks.
- Reserve the chicken broth and other ingredients from step 1 — they will flavour the filling and the masa.
- Chop the carrots into small squares.
- Incorporate the chicken, carrots and sweet peas into the stir-fry.
- Puree 1 cup of chicken broth with the tomatoes, chili pods and garlic cloves from step 1 and 1/4 tbsp of salt.
- Taste the sauce and season, then pour it into the stir-fry. Simmer 5 minutes more and let sit while you prepare the masa and banana leaves.
Masa:
- Melt the butter and blend with 3 cups of chicken broth, 1 tbsp of salt and 3 1/2 cups of Maseca. Knead until you get a uniform, moist, soft dough.
Prepare the Banana Leaves: If the leaves tear when folded, soften them by holding over heat a few seconds. Rinse and cut into 7 x 10 inch squares. Set up the stock pot with a steam rack, add water to the level of the rack and cover the rack with banana leaves.
Assemble: Banana leaves have two sides — add masa and filling to the ridged side, with the stem edge at the bottom.
- Lay out the leaf, place a handful of masa in the centre and spread with wet palms.
- Add about 2 tbsp of filling.
- Fold the two long sides over each other, then fold the two short sides; tie with string if needed. Layer the tamales in the pot, cover with banana leaves and steam for approximately 1 hour. Makes about 25 tamales.