Montucas

Ingredients

The corn dough

• 12 earsof fresh sweetcorn
• young and milky
• 150 glard or butter
• 3 tablespoonssugar
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 1 teaspoonbaking powder
• a little milk, if needed

The filling

• 600 gpork shoulder
• in small pieces
• or chicken
• 1onion, chopped
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 1red pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1 teaspoonachiote or paprika
• 2 tablespoonsoil
• salt and black pepper

Sometimes added

• green olives
• capers
• raisins
• sliced potato

To wrap and steam

• the fresh corn husks
• string, for tying
• water, for the steamer

Directions

1. Press a kernel with your thumbnail. A white milky liquid should come out. Butter works well as a substitute. That keeps the dough tender rather than dense.
2. Peel all the husks off carefully. Peel them off whole rather than tearing them. Keep the large outer ones particularly. Set them all aside for wrapping. Pull all the silk off the corn. Wash all the husks in cold water. The fine silk threads must all come off. Rub them all off with a cloth. Keep them all rather than discarding.
3. Stand each whole cob on its end. Cut the kernels off with a knife. Cut downwards close to the cob. Turn it and repeat all the way round. Work in a large bowl to catch them. Do not waste any of it at all.
4. Put the kernels in a blender or mill. Grind them all to a coarse paste. It should be coarse rather than smooth. Add no water at all if you can help it. Add a splash of milk only if it will not move. Beat the lard until light and soft. Give it a good three full minutes. Add the ground corn to the beaten fat. Add the sugar, salt and baking powder.
5. Mix it all together thoroughly. It should be a thick spreadable paste. Add a little more ground corn if it is loose. Heat the oil in a wide heavy pan. Add the pork pieces and brown them. Give them about eight minutes. Add the chopped onion to the pan. Cook it for a good six minutes.
6. Add the garlic and the red pepper. Cook them for three more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Add the cumin and the achiote. Cook them down for about ten minutes. Let the filling cook until fairly dry. A wet filling makes the dough soggy. Cook it until the liquid has gone. Let the filling cool completely. Hot filling melts the fat in the dough.
7. Let it cool right down first instead. Lay two husks overlapping on the board. It also stops the parcel leaking. Spread a layer of dough on the husks. Keep it well away from the edges. Spread it about a centimetre thick. Leave a good border all round. Put a spoonful of filling in the centre.
8. Add olives or raisins if you want them. Do not overfill any of them at all. Fold the sides of the husks inwards. The dough should meet around the filling.
9. Fold it firmly rather than loosely. Tie each parcel closed with string. Wrap the string round it both ways. Steam pressure pushes the folds apart. Tie it firmly in both directions. Put water in the bottom of a large pot. Set a rack or trivet above it. Lay some spare husks on the rack. The parcels must sit above the water.
10. Stand the parcels upright in the pot. Cover the pot tightly with a lid. Bring the water to a steady boil. Let them steam for about ninety minutes. Pack them tightly so they stand. Check it every twenty minutes or so.
11. Add boiling water if it runs low. A dry pot burns very quickly indeed. Steam them longer if it sticks. Take them out and let them stand. Give them about fifteen minutes. Bring them to the table in the husk. They keep three days refrigerated. Steam them again briefly to reheat.

Technique

• These use fresh young sweetcorn ground from the cob rather than nixtamalised dried maize masa, which is a genuinely different thing: fresher, sweeter, softer and more delicate. The corn must be at the milky stage — press a kernel with your thumbnail and a white liquid should come out — since that milk binds the dough, and starchy older corn gives a dry crumbly result.
• Scrape the cut cobs with the back of the knife, since they hold a lot of milky liquid that binds the dough; and add no water at all if you can help it, since the corn provides its own moisture.
• Fresh husks are thinner than dried ones, so lay two overlapping for each tamale, and stand the parcels upright in the steamer rather than flat, which keeps the filling in place. Test by unwrapping one: undercooked dough sticks to the husk while cooked dough releases cleanly.

Substitutions

• Butter stands in for lard, though lard is traditional; some fat is essential, since without it the tamale is heavy and dry.
• Paprika stands in for achiote, which is annatto seed and gives the deep orange colour.

Variations

• Olives, capers, raisins or sliced potato go into the filling in different households.
• Fresh husks are already pliable and need only washing and sorting, unlike dried ones which must be soaked.
• They are made in large communal batches at harvest, marking the season as much as feeding people.

History

Fresh corn tamales wrapped in husks, filled with pork or chicken, typical of the Honduran interior at harvest time.

Frequently asked questions

What is Montucas?

Montucas is a main from Honduras: sweet-corn tamales with pork, wrapped in corn husks. Fresh corn tamales wrapped in husks, filled with pork or chicken, typical of the Honduran interior at harvest time.

How long does Montucas take to make?

Montucas takes 1 hour 30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 16 tamales. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Montucas?

Yes, within limits. Butter stands in for lard, though lard is traditional; some fat is essential, since without it the tamale is heavy and dry. Paprika stands in for achiote, which is annatto seed and gives the deep orange colour.

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

Press a kernel with your thumbnail. A white milky liquid should come out. Butter works well as a substitute. That keeps the dough tender rather than dense.