Humintas

Ingredients

Corn

• 8 earsfresh corn, with husks
• choclo if you can find it
• or 800 g frozen sweetcorn

The dough

• 200 gqueso fresco, crumbled
• or 200 g mild feta, rinsed
• 80 gbutter, melted
• 3 tablespoonssugar
• or 1 teaspoon salt for savoury
• 1 teaspoonground aniseed
• 1/2 teaspoonground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• 1 teaspoonsalt

Sometimes added

• 1onion, finely chopped and fried
• 1 teaspoonground chilli
• raisins

To serve

• coffee or api
• llajwa, chilli sauce
• extra cheese

Directions

1. Cut the base off each ear of corn. Peel the husks off one at a time. Try to keep them whole and unsplit. Set aside the widest and best ones. Keep the small torn ones for lining the pot. Pour boiling water over the husks.
2. Let them soak for about ten minutes. They become soft and foldable. Drain them and pat them fully dry. Stand each cob upright on a board. Cut the kernels off downwards with a knife. Cut close to the cob without taking it. Keep every last bit of that milk. Put the kernels in a food processor. Add the scraped corn milk to them.
3. Grind them into a coarse wet paste. It should be coarse rather than smooth. Tip the ground corn into a large bowl. Add the melted butter to the bowl. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Add the aniseed and the cinnamon. Add the baking powder to it as well.
4. Fold in all the crumbled cheese. It should be thick and hold its shape. Add a spoonful of cornflour if it is loose. Sweetcorn versions often need that. Take one large husk or overlap two. Spoon dough into the middle of it. Do not overfill the husk at all. Fold the sides in over the filling. Fold the ends up to close the parcel.
5. Tie it with a strip of husk if needed. That makes the huminta wet and pale. Fold the seams tightly and evenly. Set them seam side down in the steamer. Steaming them takes about fifty minutes. Line the steamer base with spare husks. Stack the parcels in loose layers.
6. Cover it over with a tight lid. Steam them over boiling water. Top up the water as it boils away. A dry pan burns and ruins them. Let them sit in the husks for ten minutes. They firm up considerably as they cool slightly. Set the filled parcels on a tray. Heat the oven to 180C before baking.
7. Bake them for about forty minutes. The husks dry and the outside browns. Set them on plates still wrapped. Serve coffee or api alongside. They keep two days refrigerated. Steam them again to reheat them.

Technique

• Fresh corn is ground into a wet paste that binds on its own with no flour or masa added, and choclo, the Andean large-kernelled corn, is starchier and less sweet than sweetcorn, which needs a little flour to hold together.
• Steaming corn paste in husks predates the Spanish arrival entirely; cheese and sugar were added afterwards with European dairy and cane, but the technique itself is indigenous.
• The husks are both wrapper and flavour, giving a distinct corn perfume in the steam that foil loses entirely, and they must be softened in boiling water first or they crack as you fold them.

Substitutions

• Frozen sweetcorn works in place of fresh choclo, with a spoonful of cornflour to help it bind.
• Foil can wrap them where husks are unavailable, though it loses the corn perfume.

Variations

• Sweet and savoury versions are both made, with sugar or with salt and chilli.
• Huminta al horno is baked rather than steamed.
• Humita in Argentina and Chile and pamonha in Brazil are close relatives.

History

Fresh corn paste steamed in husks or baked, an Andean preparation that predates the Spanish arrival.

Frequently asked questions

What is Humintas?

Humintas is a snack from Bolivia: fresh corn dough with cheese steamed in husks. Fresh corn paste steamed in husks or baked, an Andean preparation that predates the Spanish arrival.

How long does Humintas take to make?

Humintas takes 45 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 12 parcels. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Humintas?

Yes, within limits. Frozen sweetcorn works in place of fresh choclo, with a spoonful of cornflour to help it bind. Foil can wrap them where husks are unavailable, though it loses the corn perfume.

What is the most important thing to get right in Humintas?

Grind them into a coarse wet paste. It should be coarse rather than smooth. Tip the ground corn into a large bowl. Add the melted butter to the bowl. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Add the aniseed and the cinnamon. Add the baking powder to it as well.