🇨🇴 Colombian Cuisine

Tamal Colombiano

Colombian Tamale

Prep Time 90 min

Servings 10

Difficulty Hard

Calories 450 kcal

A massive banana-leaf-wrapped bundle of cornmeal dough stuffed with chicken, vegetables, and spices, steamed for hours until the flavors meld into a festive parcel.

Ingredients

4 cups masarepa (pre-cooked corn flour)
4 cups chicken broth
500g chicken thighs, cooked and shredded
2 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, cubed and parboiled
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp annatto
Banana leaves, cleaned
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1 Mix masarepa with warm chicken broth, annatto, cumin, and salt into a soft dough.
2 Sauté onion and garlic. Mix with shredded chicken, carrots, potatoes, and chickpeas. Season well.
3 Soften banana leaves over a flame or in hot water until pliable.
4 Spread dough on a banana leaf square. Place filling in the center.
5 Fold banana leaf into a tight rectangular package. Tie securely with twine.
6 Steam tamales for 2-3 hours until dough is firm and pulls away from the leaf.

Did You Know?

In Colombia, making tamales is a family assembly line — abuelas lead the operation and everyone has an assigned task.