Making Guatemalan Tamales

Since Jeremy and I got married we have always craved Guatemalan tamales. Every time we go back there we eat as many as we can because we don’t know anyone around here that makes them. Jer likes black tamales (sweet, made with chocolate), I like red tamales. The last time I went to Guatemala my older sister, Evelyn, made tamales and I helped her. She is a good cook and she can make a lot of the traditional dishes. She gave me a recipe for “tamales colorados” (red tamales) but I was scared to make them by myself.

Well, a few weeks ago I decided to go and find all the ingredients and give it a try. I was amazed that I found everything I needed. I started around 2 PM one afternoon and called Evelyn. She was so nice and said “I call you back through Skype and I’ll help you”! It was nice cooking together even though we are a couple thousand miles away from each other but I felt that she was right there with me. Jeremy helped me a lot, specially with the dough because it takes about 1 ½ hour stirring it. In Guatemala we wrap the tamales with plantain leaves, maxan leaves and cibaque. I didn’t want to get all of that since Evelyn said I could use aluminum foil so that’s what I used. From beginning to end we cooked and prepared the tamales in 6 hours (Evelyn and I were on Skype for a total of about 3 hours).

Evelyn and Hugo The whole mob
Dough, meat and bell peppers
Recado (sauce), it makes the yummy flavor
Wrapping the tamale

Ready to put it in the pot
Jeremy goofing off with the kids

Here it is! they came out perfect! "Esta foto es para tí Evelyn"