Culinary Adventures with Camilla

When I saw that Love & Olive Oil was hosting a Tamales Kitchen Challenge  this month, I was very excited. I needed an excuse to make  nacatamales again. However, the instructions came with a caveat: "...but they do need to be traditionally wrapped in corn-husks…." Hmmm...Honduran  nacatamales  are traditionally steamed in banana leaves instead of corn husks. Not wanting to break the rules of the challenge, I sent Lindsay and Taylor a message. The answer: "They're wrapped and steamed in the same way right? If so, definitely ok!" Fantastic. Here we go. So, while R went to his mandolin lesson, the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I went to the Asian market for banana leaves and the Mexican market for Salvadorean cream (it's like a thin sour cream). Our nacatamales aren't completely traditional because I cook the meat before stuffing them and I also skipped the lard. This recipe made approximately 24 nacatamales . When you're working wit...

We are wrapping up the Hs of the world - in our Cooking Around the World adventure - with a simple Honduran dinner. 'Simple' because we are only making one thing: nacatamales . Nacatamales are traditionally served at Christmas time, but I loved that they are steamed in banana leaves instead of corn husks. So, off we went to the Mexican market for banana leaves and Salvadorean cream. And, because we are short on time, I made some adaptations that included cooking the meat before stuffing the nacatamales . I also skipped the lard. A bit about Honduras...at times, this Central American country has been referred to as 'Spanish Honduras' to differentiate it from 'British Honduras' which is now the country of Belize. Honduran Nacatamales First make the masa , dough... 6 C masa harina 1/2 C butter, softened 1/2 C olive oil 1/2 C lime juice 4 C organic chicken broth Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl and stir till it comes together into a ...