Tamal de Bola Chiapaneco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large tamalera or deep steamer with rack
• •Cast iron comal for chiles, tomatoes, and banana leaves
• •Clay cazuela or heavy saucepan for frying the recado
• •High-powered blender
• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer for the masa

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the pork

   Put the pork shoulder in a heavy pot with the onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaf, 2 teaspoons salt, and 8 cups water. Bring to a steady simmer, skim the gray foam during the first 15 minutes, then lower the heat and cook 55 to 65 minutes, until the pork is tender but not falling apart. Strain and reserve the broth. Keep the pork in bite-size pieces. This tamal wants meat you can find when you open the leaf.

2. 2

   Soften the leaves

   Wipe the banana leaves with a damp cloth. Pass each square over a gas flame or hot comal for a few seconds per side until the leaf turns glossy and flexible. Do not skip this. Raw banana leaf cracks, and a cracked wrapper leaks sauce into the steamer. The leaf should fold without fighting you.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile simojovel quickly, 8 to 12 seconds per side, just until fragrant and a shade darker. These chiles are small and they burn fast. Put them in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. Hot, not boiling. Boiling water pulls bitterness from the skin.

   If a chile blackens, throw it out. One burned chile can make the whole tomato sauce taste harsh. No me vengas con atajos.
4. 4

   Roast the tomatoes

   On the same comal, roast the Roma tomatoes, turning often, until the skins blister and the flesh softens. Add the remaining 3 garlic cloves for the last few minutes so they spot with brown but do not scorch. The tomato is the body of the sauce. The chile simojovel is the Chiapas accent.

5. 5

   Blend the sauce

   Drain the softened chiles. Blend them with the roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, black peppercorns, cloves, Mexican oregano, and 1 cup of reserved pork broth until completely smooth. Strain if your blender leaves chile skin behind. A tamal filling should be thick and clean, not gritty.

6. 6

   Fry the recado

   Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a clay cazuela or heavy saucepan over medium heat. Pour in the blended tomato and chile sauce. It will sputter, so stand back and stir with authority. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the sauce darkens to brick red and small red freckles of fat appear at the edges. Add the cooked pork and the epazote sprig. Simmer 10 minutes more, until the sauce clings to the meat. Remove the epazote and taste for salt.

7. 7

   Beat the masa

   Beat 1 cup manteca de cerdo in a large bowl until lighter and soft, 3 to 4 minutes by hand or 2 minutes with a mixer. Add the fresh masa, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Work in 1 1/4 cups warm pork broth little by little until the masa is soft, spreadable, and still able to hold its shape. If it cracks when you press it, add more broth by the tablespoon. If it slumps like batter, you went too far. La manteca es el sabor, and the broth is the memory of the pork.

8. 8

   Shape the balls

   Lay one softened banana leaf square on the counter, shiny side up. Take about 1/2 cup masa and press it into a thick disk in your palm or directly on the leaf. Cup the center, add 2 tablespoons pork filling with plenty of sauce, then close the masa around it and shape it into a ball. This is why it is called tamal de bola. Not a flat packet. Not a square brick. A ball, made with your hands.

9. 9

   Wrap the tamales

   Fold the banana leaf around the masa ball: bottom up, top down, sides tucked under, then tie gently with banana leaf strips or kitchen twine. Leave a little room for expansion, but not so much that the tamal rolls around loose. Repeat with the remaining masa and filling. The wrapping should feel firm in the hand, like the señoras in San Cristobal make it when they are working fast and not explaining themselves.

10. 10

    Steam until set

    Line a large steamer with extra banana leaf scraps. Add water below the rack and bring it to a simmer. Arrange the tamales in the steamer, seam side down, stacking them without crushing. Cover with more banana leaves, then the lid. Cook 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, checking the water level and adding boiling water when needed. The tamales are done when the masa feels firm and pulls away from the banana leaf cleanly.

11. 11

    Rest and serve

    Turn off the heat and let the tamales rest in the covered steamer for 20 minutes. This matters. The masa finishes setting as it rests. Serve them opened in the leaf on clay plates, with the tomato and chile simojovel sauce glossy against the masa. No sour cream, no yellow cheese, no decoration. Chiapas already gave you the dish. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile simojovel from a Chiapas vendor if you can. In Mexican markets outside Chiapas, ask the chile seller directly. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado. If they do not know it, use chile costeño rojo with one chile de arbol as a compromise. It will not taste the same. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Fresh nixtamal masa is best. Ask for masa para tamal, not masa for tortillas. If you must use masa harina para tamal, use 4 cups masa harina, 3 cups warm pork broth, 1 cup manteca de cerdo, baking powder, and salt. Let it hydrate 30 minutes before shaping. It works. It is not the market version.
• •The filling must be thick before it goes into the masa. Watery sauce leaks, stains the steamer, and leaves you blaming the banana leaf when the real problem was impatience.
• •Do not reduce the lard in the masa. Tamales need fat to carry flavor and keep the crumb tender. La manteca es el sabor. If you want dry dough, that is another decision, not this recipe.
• •Make the pork filling the day before for a celebration. The sauce deepens overnight, and assembly day becomes work you can manage instead of work that manages you.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork filling can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before filling the tamales so the sauce loosens but stays thick.
• •Banana leaves can be wiped, cut, softened, and refrigerated 1 day ahead, wrapped in a clean towel inside a bag.
• •The assembled uncooked tamales can be refrigerated overnight. Steam them straight from the refrigerator, adding 10 to 15 minutes to the cooking time.
• •Cooked tamales keep refrigerated for 4 days. Reheat in a steamer until the masa is soft again and the sauce inside is glossy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 235g)