Tamales de Tichinda Afromestizos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tall tamalera or steamer pot with a rack
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and softening the leaves
• •Blender for the chile costeño salsa
• •Stiff brush for scrubbing the mussels
• •Stand mixer or a wide bowl and a strong arm for beating the masa

Instructions

1. 1

   Purge and scrub the mussels

   Tip the live tichindas into a bowl of cool, lightly salted water and let them sit two to three hours, or overnight if you have the time, so they spit out the lagoon sand. Discard any mussel whose shell gapes open and does not close when you tap it. Those are dead and they do not belong in the masa. Scrub the closed ones with a stiff brush under running water, pulling off any beard or grit from the mangrove root, and rinse them in several changes of water. Do not rinse the salt out of the meat. The brine inside the shell is the seasoning of the whole tamale.

   Keep the mussels cold until you fold them in. They go into the masa alive and in the shell. That is the dish, not a step you can skip.
2. 2

   Soften the banana leaves

   Cut the banana leaves into rough 10-inch squares, following the grain so they fold without splitting. Wipe them clean. Pass each leaf over an open flame or a hot comal for a few seconds a side, until the dull green turns deep and glossy and the leaf goes soft and pliable. This is not decoration. A stiff leaf cracks at the fold and your tamale leaks its juices into the pot. Banana leaf, not corn husk. The green steam it gives off is part of the flavor, and that is the whole reason the Costa Chica wraps these the way it does.

3. 3

   Make the chile costeño salsa

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile costeño for only a few seconds a side. They are thin and small and they burn like chile de arbol, so do not look away. Toast the guajillo a little longer, about twenty seconds a side, until fragrant. Soak both in hot water, not boiling, for fifteen minutes until soft. On the same comal, char the tomatoes, the onion, and the unpeeled garlic until blackened in spots and soft. Peel the garlic. Drain the chiles and blend them with the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and a teaspoon of salt into a smooth, deep red salsa. Add a splash of the soaking water only if the blender needs it.

   Costeño is the chile of this coast and it carries real heat. The guajillo is there for color and body, to round the costeño, not to replace it. If you cannot find costeño, stretch what you have with more guajillo and a chile de arbol or two for heat, but understand you are making a compromise, not the real salsa of the Costa Chica.
4. 4

   Beat the masa

   In a wide bowl or a stand mixer, beat the manteca de cerdo on its own until it is light and fluffy, three to four minutes. La manteca es el sabor, and it also carries the air that makes a tamale tender. Add the fresh masa in handfuls, beating after each, until you have a soft, even dough. If it feels tight, loosen it with warm water or reserved mussel liquid, a little at a time. The masa should be the texture of thick cake batter that still holds its shape on a spoon.

   Test the masa the way the coast does. Drop a pea-size ball into a cup of cold water. If it floats, the lard is beaten in well enough and your tamales will be light. If it sinks, beat it longer.
5. 5

   Season the masa

   Work the chile costeño salsa into the beaten masa until the color is even, a soft rust-red throughout. Add salt carefully and taste as you go. Remember the mussels will give up their own salt into the masa as everything steams, so season the masa a touch under where you think it should be. You cannot pull salt back out once it is in. Así se hace y punto.

6. 6

   Fold in the tichindas and epazote

   Fold the whole scrubbed mussels and the chopped epazote into the masa by hand, spreading them evenly so every tamale gets its share. The shells stay closed and whole. They open on their own in the steam and seep their liquor into the corn around them. Work gently so you do not crush the masa or force the shells apart.

7. 7

   Wrap the tamales

   Lay a softened banana leaf shiny side up. Spoon a generous scoop of the mussel masa into the center, four or five mussels' worth. Fold the two long sides of the leaf over the masa so they overlap, then fold the top and bottom under to make a closed packet. The leaf should wrap the masa snugly without squeezing it. Tie with a strip of banana leaf if the packet wants to open. Stack them as you go.

   Some cooks on the coast shuck half the mussels and leave half in the shell so the eating is easier. The old way leaves them all whole. Either is honest. The whole shell is more work at the table and more flavor in the masa.
8. 8

   Steam the tamales

   Line the bottom of a tamalera or a tall pot with leftover banana leaf and add water up to the level of the steamer rack. Stand the tamales upright or lay them in snug layers, folded side down. Cover with more banana leaf and a lid. Bring to a strong simmer and steam for about one hour and fifteen minutes, adding hot water if the pot runs low. They are done when the masa pulls cleanly away from the leaf and holds together instead of sticking.

   Drop a coin into the water under the rack. As long as it rattles, there is still water in the pot. When it goes silent, you are about to scorch your tamales, so add hot water fast.
9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Pull the pot off the heat and let the tamales rest, still wrapped, for fifteen minutes. They firm up as they cool, and a tamale opened straight off the heat will be loose and pasty. Serve them in the leaf, family-style, with lime halves and a bowl of extra chile costeño salsa. Each person unwraps their own, opens the little shells with their fingers, and eats the mussels out of the masa they perfumed. Discard any mussel that stayed shut. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Tichindas do not leave the lagoon. Outside the Costa Chica you will not find them in any market, and that is the honest truth of this dish. If you are on the coast, buy them live the morning you cook. If you are not, small bay mussels or pen shell clams will hold the shape, but you lose the mangrove brine that is the entire point. Name what you lose before you swap it. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •The salt lives inside the shells. Do not soak that brine out of the mussels, and salt the masa with a light hand. As the tamales steam, the mussels open and salt the corn from the inside. Season the masa under where you think it should be, taste a cooked tamale, and adjust the next batch. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Buy real manteca de cerdo from a carnicería, not shortening from a tub. The lard is what makes the masa tender and what ties this dish to the Afro-Caribbean frying habit of the whole coast. La manteca es el sabor.
• •If your banana leaves come frozen, thaw them fully and still pass them over the flame. The fire is what turns the leaf pliable and wakes up its green perfume. A cold leaf straight from the package cracks and tastes of nothing.

Advance Preparation

• •Purge the live mussels in cool salted water for two to three hours or overnight in a cool place so they release the lagoon sand. Discard any that stay open when tapped.
• •The chile costeño salsa can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. The flavor settles and deepens overnight.
• •Beat the masa a few hours ahead and keep it covered and cool, then beat it briefly again before you fold in the mussels and epazote.
• •Steamed tamales keep three days refrigerated and freeze well for two months. Re-steam from cold for twenty minutes, or from frozen for thirty-five, until heated through and the masa pulls clean from the leaf.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 260g)