Friday, December 2, 2011

Tamalitos de Frijoles

On the 11th day of Christmas, my suegra gave to me . . .

Tamalitos de Frijoles



We're counting down the days we get to go to Honduras for the holidays and partake of all of the fun tradiciones navideñas (Christmas Traditions) with Armando's family. One of the yummies that I love are my mother-in-law's Tamalitos de Frijoles. My sister-in-law prepared them for me first here in the states when I was expecting our first daughter. With my second pregnancy, of course I craved them because the closest ones were a time zone and two layovers away. Although I'm not expecting, I still love a good tamal de frijol nice and warm with crema on top.

Although I've never made these on my own, my sister-in-law wrote up some instructions for me to share on the blog. If I can talk them into showing me these while we're there, I'll add proportions in the future. For now, this is a typical "little of this and little of that" type of recipe. ;)

Tamalitos with Frijoles (Beans)


Prepare the corn flour for tortillas and make it a little dry. (I recommend maseca found in your local grocer in the Mexican-food section. Follow the instructions to prepare tortillas and make slightly dry).

Blend garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, and cilantro (enough of these ingredients to flavor the beans and the tamale dough. Add a small tomato to the ingredients and blend it as well.

Add half of the blended condiments to the dough along with salt to taste.

Cook and prepare black beans. Let cool and blend with bean broth. Fry in hot oil along with the remaining blended condiments mentioned above. Add salt to taste. Fry and stir frequently so as not to let them stick. They should be a little liquid-like - not a pasty texture. Let them cool - they should be slightly more liquid-like when hot because they will solidify slightly as they cool.

Form dough into small balls. Flatten with hands on a piece of plastic as if you were going to make a tortilla (not too thick nor too thin). In the middle, drop a large spoonfull of cooled refried beans. Fold the tortilla in half, covering the beans. It should look like a half-moon.

Seal the edges with hands carefully so as not to let any beans leak out and place in the center of a banana-leaf. Place in a pot of boiling water with salt for 45 minutes.

Serve warm with crema centroamericana.


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And for all of you Spanish-speakers, perhaps the original instructions would be easier to follow rather than my translation above.

Preparar la harina de maíz como para hacer tortillas dejarla un poco seca. Licuar ajo, cebolla, chile verde, apio, cilantro todos estos ingredientes en cantidades necesarias (que sea sufiente para los frijoles y la masa) además licuar un tomate pequeño junto con el resto de los ingredientes.
Al agregar los condimentos a la masa también agregar sal la necesaria. Los frijoles cocidos se licuan y se ponen a freír en aceite junto con los condimentos licuados, especies y sal en caso de ser necesario; al freír los frijoles no dejarlos secos estos de beben de quedar más o menos líquidos, dejar enfriar.
Elaborar con la masa pequeñas bolas para luego aplanarlas con las manos sobre un plástico en forma de tortilla (esta no debe de ser ni muy gruesa ni muy delgada). En la mitad de la tortilla colocar una cuchara grande de los frijoles fritos y fríos, doblar la tortilla a la mitad cubriendo los frijoles, quedando la forma de una media luna. Nos cercioramos de cerrar bien los bordes para que nada se salga, luego se envuelven en una hoja de plátano y se ponen a hervir en agua con sal por unos 45min.
Comer calientes con mantequilla.

4 comments:

Felixa & Dean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Felixa & Dean said...

Sorry for my last post... but one part was missing, so I re-type it!
This is what I wrote originally:

Hi,
I am from Honduras but I live in PA. For Easter, back in Tegucigalpa where I grew up, we cooked "sopa de pescado seco y tamalitos de frijoles".
I googled and I found yours which is one of the best if not the BEST recipe and blog. Thanks!
I just need to find the one for sopa de pescada. Perhaps I would call my mother to find out and then pass it to you. Thanks and many blessings to you.
Felixa

Daisy said...

@Felixa - I am happy that this recipe has been a good resource for you. I'd love the sopa de pescado recipe if you get it. I'm sure my husband would love it.

Felixa & Dean said...

Hi Daisy... Here is what I found, and it turn just as my mother does it! Enjoy it and please take pictures, yours are great!

DRIED FISH SOUP
Soup of dried fish (Salted Pollok) or Bacalao, I hope you can enjoy it.

Ingredients:
1 1 / 2 lb of salted dried fish
1 / 2 cup ripe tomato, chopped
1 egg, separated
1 / 4 cup flour
about 4 cups water
1 / 3 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon cilantro leaf
1 / 2 cup oil
1 / 2 teaspoon achiote
1 / 2 teaspoon pepper
1 / 4 cup chopped fresh green pepper
1 celery
2 cloves garlic

To prepare the soup first thing to do is make the fish rest for two hours in ice water or soak overnight so it will loos the salt, then the product is passed through hot water to finish washing and let drain. crumble the meat and carefully remove the thorns (if they have).
Mean while, fry green pepper, onion, garlic, achiote, coriander, celery and season it to the egg which will make the cakes.
After mixing the dough, so do not make it thin either too thick, a then fry them with hot oil. Place a piece of fish and then covered with another piece
of dough flavored, until browned on both sides. Place on absorbent paper.
Having made cakes, in another pot prepare the sauce again , only this time you add
tomato, onion, chile, water, some portion of dough and the heads or the backbone
of dried fish that give flavor to the soup. Let boil for 10 minutes, add the fish cakes
For the cakes do not fall apart in the soup, they should take to the same for about
15 minutes, then everything is ready to serve with chile and lime.

La sopa de pescado seco en muy tradicional para la epoca de semana santa,
esta receta me la dio un amigo, dice que su tia la hace deliciosa, espero que les sirva,
traten de tener todos los ingredientes, espero que la disfruten.

Ingredientes:
1 1/2 lb de pescado seco y salado
1/2 taza de tomate maduro picado
1 huevo, separado
1/4 taza de harina
4 taza de agua
1/3 taza de cebolla picada
1 cucharada de hoja de culantro
1/2 taza de aceite
1/2 cucharadita de achiote
1/2 cucharadita de pimienta
1/4 taza de chile dulce picado
1 rama de apio
2 dientes de ajo

Para elaborar la sopa, lo primero que hay que hacer es introducir
el pescado seco por unas dos horas en agua helada, o dejarlo
en remojo toda la noche para que afloje la sal;
posteriormente el producto se pasa por agua
caliente para que termine de lavarse y dejarlo escurrir.
desmenuzar la carne y separar cuidadosamente las espinas.
mientras por otra parte se licúa chile verde, cebolla, ajo,
achiote, culantro, apio y huevo para sazonar
la masa con la cual se harán las tortas.
Una vez preparada la masa, de manera que no quede
rala ni muy espesa, en una freidora con aceite caliente se
echa un cucharón de la misma, se coloca encima el trozo
de pescado y luego se cubre con otra porción de la masa
condimentada, hasta que dore por ambos lados.
Colocarlas en papel absorvente.
Al tener las tortas hechas, en otra olla se prepara nuevamente
el sofrito, sólo que esta vez se agrega tomate, cebolla, chile,
agua, cierta porción de masa y las cabezas o el espinazo
del pescado seco, para que le dé sabor a la sopa.
Dejar hervir por unos 10 minutos, agregar las tortas de pescado
Para que las tortas no se deshagan en la sopa, estas deben
echarse a la misma durante unos 15 minutos, y luego todo
queda listo para servirla con chile y limón.
La sopa de tortas de pescado suele acompañarse con
postres que se preparan, por ejemplo, con mango verde,
ciruelas, rosquillas o pan en miel de rapadura.