Tamales Tolimenses (Tolima Region Tamales)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of pork ribs cut into small pieces
- 12 pieces of chicken
- 1 pound pork belly cut into small pieces
- 4 medium potatoes peeled and sliced
- 2 large carrots peeled and sliced
- 6 cooked eggs sliced
- 1 cup peas
- 3 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Place all the marinade ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Reserve ½ cup of the marinade to prepare the masa.
- In a large plastic bowl place all the meat, add 1 ½ cups of the marinade. Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- To prepare the masa: Place the masarepa in a large bowl, add the water, salt, sazon Goya or color and reserved marinade. Mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands.
- Wash the leaves well with hot water and set aside.
- To assemble the tamales: Place 1 piece of the leaf on a work surface and place a second leaf on top, pointing in the opposite direction, like forming a cross.
- . Spread ½ cup of masa and about ¼ cup of rice in the center of the banana leaves, at the point where they connect and form a cross. Place, 1 piece pork belly, 1 piece of chicken and 1 piece of rib on top of the masa and place about 1 tablespoon of peas, 1 or 2 slices of carrots and 2 slices of potatoes on top of the meat.
- Bring the corners of the banana leaves up to the middle of the filling, and tie it with butcheru2019s string right above the filling, so that there is a tuft of leaves above the string (see picture). Continue the process until all the tamales are wrapped and tied.
- Bring a large pot with salted water to a boil. Add the tamales and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 2 hours. Remove the tamales from the pot and let them sit for about 5 minutes before serving. Cut the stirring and serve in the leaves. Serve hogao on the side if desired.
Tamal is an important dish in Colombian cuisine and you'll find them on almost all traditional Colombian restaurant menus. There are many different variations of tamales throughout the country. Tamales Tolimense is a recipe I have been planning to share with you for some time now.
The filling in this tamal is chicken, pork belly, pork ribs, boiled egg, carrots, peas, potatoes, rice, condiments, and masa, all wrapped with plantain leaves. In the Tolima region of Colombia it is traditional to eat Tamal Tolimense for breakfast with hot chocolate and arepa.
Tamal is a dish loved all around Colombia, and I want to share all of the many variations with you. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!
Marinade:4 garlic cloves1 large green bell pepper, chopped4 tablespoons ground cuminSalt
Masa:5 cups chicken stock
SaltWrapping:String
Water and Salt to cook the tamales
carlos pinilla
The tamales turned out great!!! Ran out of bananas leaves, was only able to make 7 from one package of banana leaves. Also tried the chickensancocho recipes and it was wonderfull. Remind me of home.
Thanks for the great web site.
Carlos
Emily Renate
I am so excited to try this! I just married a wonderful man from Ibague, Tolima and the thing he misses the most is the Tolima- style tamales!
Gloria
tu pones el arroz blanco o lo preparas con sazon goya? en la fotos se ve amarillo
Erica
Gloria- I added color to the rice.
raul lopez
GRACIAS ESTA MUY BUENA SU RECETA Y MUY COLOMBIANA , YO A MIS TAMALES LES PONGO ALBERJAS AMARILLAS PRECOCINADAS Y PIMIENTA
NEGRA MOLIDA, Y UNA AREPITA LA LADO,CHOCOLATE Y QUE VIVA COLOMBIA
Carl
Many thanks for this terrific site I had these for breakfast in Bogota last year & it's time to cook some up here
Isabela
I had these tamales when i went to colombia a few years ago and they are the best version of tamale i have ever had. i really wanna try to make. I had a few questions about the recipe. Do you stick raw meat into the tamale package? and do you stick the entire package after wrapped in the boiling water? Wont water get in? is there any other way to cook it because i am almost certain that i will manage to get water in package. thank you in advance!
Erica
Isabela-
You can wrap them with the leaves and after with foil.
You can use a steamer.
It is un-cooked meat
Julieth
Estos tamales suena riquisimos y faciles de hacer pero tengo una pregunta puedo sustituir el cerdo por alguna otra carne como pollo o carne 🙁 es que soy alergica al cerdo espero tu respuesta Erica, Gracias por todas tus deliciosas recetas 😀
Erica
Julieth, Use chicken!
Conny Nichols
Thank you for sharing this ubiquitous Colombian favorite and all other recipes that only us, Colombians know about. You may want to tell your bloggers that Colombia has many different varieties of Tamales, which vary from region to region. Some of the others include garbanzo beans, my favorite, and others also more vegetables. Your instructions are good. However, if you allow me to add one comment, it's important to add that the final boiling part is crucial, and that the tamales must NOT be submerged under water. If it's not explained, your readers might boil them rather than steam them. At home, we put a bed of rocks on which to place a rack at the bottom of the stock pot in order to allow the tamales to sit on the rack and away from the water. I repeat, the tamales are not boiled under water, they are steamed!
thank you for your recipes. I'm currently resear hing and writing a Colombian cookbook. So, I've been reading your blog to see if there are other varieties I may not heard about. You're doing a good job, thanks.
Conny
Sofie Schils
Thank you so much for this great recipe, The Columbian restaurant where we used to have Tamales closed recently and know I'm going to try them myself!
Can i also use Harina P.A.N. because here in belgium i can't find the Goya products.
Erica
Sofie- Yes,I love Harina PAN!
Sofie Schils
Great! A shop nearby sells Harina Pan! I had to do a lot off calls and internetsearching before finding it! I'm going to try them and hope they will be as great ass at the restaurant! Yours shure look fantastic!
Lina
Thank you Erika! I've been dreaming with tamales tolimenses and I'm so happy I found this recipe. I have some question though and I would love it if you can help:
1. For the masa, you listed chicken stock as one of the ingredients but on step 3 (To prepare the masa) you didn't mention it, instead, you said water. So, can I actually replace chicken stock with water?
2. Can you buy the chicken stock at the supermarket (like the chicken broth)?
3. How much water do you use to cook the tamales?
Thank you so much for sharing all these amazing recipes 😀
Claudia
Erika, does the chicken and the pork have to be cooked first before the whole thing is wrapped?
Thanks.
Erica
Claudia- I don't cook the meat before, but some people do it!
Ingrid
Finally, I found a site that gives the recipes in English. I was born in Colombia, but have been raised here in US.
Could you please indicate how many tamales are made from you tamales tolimenses recipe?
Also, in our home we don't consume pork. Any suggestions on alternatives? Ie, more chicken thighs or beef ribs...
SandrisW
Hi Erica, Thanks for inspiring me to make the Tamales. I still can't believe i Did it! they came out good, no really Great. the only thing is do they suppose to have some water running from the leaves? Also do you think i can freeze them and how should i reheat them?
thanks again.!!! Deliciosos!!
Erica
SandrisW- You have to wrap them really good!You are not suppose to have water inside! Next time you can wrap them with foil after the leaves and that will help you.
You can freeze them and reheat them in salted water.
blanca
this recipe is just like what ive eaten growing up. being half colombian and puerto rican ive gotton the best of both tamales and pasteles :), my colombian side is from tolima also great recipe~blanca
marisol
thank you so much for the recipe it has been a real time saver and they look delicious thank you
Erica
Thank you all for the wonderful comments!