Ingredients
Dough
- 1 kgdried white maize kernels
- 2 tspsalt
- about 250 ml water
Wrapping
- 30dried corn husks, soaked in warm water for 1 hour
- kitchen string, or strips torn from the husks
To serve
- queso blanco
- fried fish
- coffee
Directions
- Soak the maize in plenty of cold water overnight, for at least 12 hours, until the kernels have swollen and lost their hardness.
- Drain, cover with fresh water and boil for about an hour, until a kernel crushes easily between your fingers but still holds its shape. Boiled to collapse, the corn will make a paste that never firms up in the husk.
- Drain thoroughly and leave to cool until you can handle it, then grind it through a hand mill, a meat grinder or a food processor to a coarse dough. Coarse is correct here: ground to a smooth purée the bollo turns gummy and heavy.
- Work in the salt and only as much water as the dough needs to hold together when you squeeze a handful. Any more and the parcels will be wet in the middle.
- Drain the soaked husks and overlap two of them lengthways, wide ends together, to make a sheet.
- Lay a log of dough about 12 cm long and 4 cm thick along the centre, roll the husks around it tightly, fold both ends over and tie once around the middle and once at each end.
- Lower the bollos into a large pot of boiling salted water, keep them fully submerged with a plate on top, and boil for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Lift them out and rest them in their husks for 10 minutes before opening, so the dough sets and does not crumble.
- Serve warm with crumbled white cheese, or alongside fried fish, or with black coffee for breakfast.
Technique
- The husk is not decoration. It holds the shape, seasons the dough and is the reason a bollo tastes of more than boiled corn.
- Salt the boiling water. The parcels take up almost nothing from it otherwise.
- Bollos freeze well in their husks and reheat by dropping them back into boiling water for 10 minutes.
Substitutions
- Masarepa, precooked corn flour, for a fast version: 500 g whisked into 700 ml warm salted water and rested 10 minutes.
- Fresh field corn kernels, ground raw, for bollo de maíz nuevo.
Variations
- Bollo de maíz nuevo, made with young sweet corn and sugar.
- Bollo preñao, wrapped around a piece of seasoned chicken or pork.
- Bollo de coco, enriched with coconut milk.
History
Corn dough rolls boiled in husks, sold on roadsides and eaten with cheese or fried fish.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bollos?
Bollos is a snack from Panama: boiled corn-dough rolls wrapped in husks. Corn dough rolls boiled in husks, sold on roadsides and eaten with cheese or fried fish.
How long does Bollos take to make?
Bollos takes 30 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 12 bollos. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Bollos?
Yes, within limits. Masarepa, precooked corn flour, for a fast version: 500 g whisked into 700 ml warm salted water and rested 10 minutes. Fresh field corn kernels, ground raw, for bollo de maíz nuevo.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bollos?
Drain, cover with fresh water and boil for about an hour, until a kernel crushes easily between your fingers but still holds its shape. Boiled to collapse, the corn will make a paste that never firms up in the husk.
