Tamal pisque

Ingredients

The beans

• 300 gdried red beans
• soaked overnight
• cooked soft
• then mashed
• keep the cooking liquid

The masa

• 800 gfresh corn masa
• or 600 g masa harina
• plus warm water
• 150 glard
• or oil
• salt

The wrapping

• banana leaves
• or corn husks
• softened over a flame
• or soaked
• kitchen string

To serve

• crema
• or soured cream
• crumbled queso duro
• at Lent and Holy Week

Directions

1. Hold the leaf over a gas flame briefly. A hot dry pan works if you have no flame. Keep the leaf moving constantly. Never leave it over the flame unattended. Pick the dried beans over for stones. Spread them on a tray and check them.
2. Discard anything that is not a sound bean. Cover the beans with cold water overnight. Use far more water than seems necessary. Rinse them well before cooking them. Boil the drained beans hard in fresh water. Bring them to a full rolling boil. Hold that hard boil for ten full minutes. Simmer the beans until entirely soft. Give them about ninety minutes at a simmer.
3. Add salt only in the last twenty minutes. Salt added early toughens the skins. Mash the cooked beans to a thick paste. Use a masher or blend them smooth. Add some cooking liquid to loosen it. It should be a thick spreadable paste. Work the lard into the masa thoroughly.
4. Beat the lard until it is light and creamy. Work the mashed beans into the masa. Add them gradually rather than all at once. Work them through until evenly distributed. There should be no streaks of pale masa.
5. Add bean liquid if it is too stiff. Add more masa if it is too wet. Drop a small ball into cold water. If it sinks, then beat it further. Season the masa generously with salt. Taste the raw masa to check it. Keep it moving constantly as you do. Cut the leaves into rectangles for wrapping. About twenty-five centimetres square is right.
6. Cut along the grain of the leaf. Cut a few extra in case some tear. Spread masa in the centre of each leaf. Use about three tablespoons per tamale. Spread it into a rough rectangle. Leave a good border all the way round. Fold the leaf over the masa from both sides.
7. Bring the two long sides together over it. Fold them down together to seal. Wrap them firmly but not too tightly. Too tight and the packet bursts open. Tie each packet with kitchen string. Tie it around once each way like a parcel. Steam the tamales for about ninety minutes. Stack them in a steamer over boiling water.
8. Stand them upright or lay them flat. Cover the steamer tightly with a lid. Keep the water boiling steadily throughout. Check the water level every half hour. Top it up with boiling water as needed. A dry steamer burns and ruins the tamales. Return them to steam if it sticks. Let the tamales rest before unwrapping. Give them about fifteen minutes off the heat.
9. Serve the tamales in their leaves. It also keeps it warm on the plate. Spoon crema over each opened tamale. Salvadoran crema is thick and slightly soured. Crumble hard cheese over the cream. Queso duro is salty, dry and crumbly. Steam them again to reheat them.

Technique

• Dried red kidney beans must be boiled hard for ten full minutes before any slow cooking. They contain phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin causing severe vomiting and stomach pain, and slow cooking without a hard boil can concentrate rather than destroy it.
• Banana leaves catch fire if held over a flame too long. Keep the leaf moving constantly, never leave it unattended over the flame, and have a way to smother a flame nearby. A hot dry pan works if you have no gas.
• Check the steamer water every half hour and top it up with boiling water — a dry steamer burns and ruins the tamales. Ninety minutes is a genuine minimum: undercooked masa is pasty, tastes raw and sticks badly to the leaf, while longer steaming does no harm.

Substitutions

• Corn husks replace banana leaves and are used in some Salvadoran households, though banana leaf gives a more distinctive flavour. Strips of banana leaf replace kitchen string as ties and are genuinely traditional.
• Masa harina reconstituted with warm water replaces fresh masa. Ordinary cornmeal will not work at all, since it has not been nixtamalised and will not bind into a workable dough. Soured cream replaces Salvadoran crema and feta is a rough substitute for queso duro.

Variations

• The beans go into the masa itself rather than as a filling, which is the whole distinction of this tamale and turns the finished dough dark grey-brown rather than pale. Work them through until there are no streaks of pale masa left.
• Beat the lard until light and creamy before working the masa into it: that traps air and gives a lighter tamale, where simply mixing them gives a dense one. Test it by dropping a small ball into cold water — properly aerated masa floats, and if it sinks, beat it more. That is a genuine traditional test.
• Wrap the packets firmly but not too tightly, since the masa expands as it steams and too tight a packet bursts while too loose a one lets water in. Rest them fifteen minutes off the heat before unwrapping, since they fall apart if opened immediately.

History

Made for Lent and Holy Week when meat is set aside; the beans are worked into the masa itself.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tamal pisque?

Tamal pisque is a snack from El Salvador: corn tamale mixed with mashed beans, eaten with cream and cheese. Made for Lent and Holy Week when meat is set aside; the beans are worked into the masa itself.

How long does Tamal pisque take to make?

Tamal pisque takes 1 hour plus soaking of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 15. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Tamal pisque?

Yes, within limits. Corn husks replace banana leaves and are used in some Salvadoran households, though banana leaf gives a more distinctive flavour. Strips of banana leaf replace kitchen string as ties and are genuinely traditional. Masa harina reconstituted with warm water replaces fresh masa. Ordinary cornmeal will not work at all, since it has not been nixtamalised and will not bind into a workable dough. Soured cream replaces Salvadoran crema and feta is a rough substitute for queso duro.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tamal pisque?

Hold the leaf over a gas flame briefly. A hot dry pan works if you have no flame. Keep the leaf moving constantly. Never leave it over the flame unattended. Pick the dried beans over for stones. Spread them on a tray and check them.