Guatemalan tamales

Ingredients

Quantities for 8 servings.

• 700 g Masa harina
• 800 g Pork, in pieces
• 200 g Lard
• 500 g Tomatoes
• 4 piece Guajillo chillies
• 80 g Pumpkin seeds
• 40 g Sesame seeds
• 1 piece Onion
• 5 clove Garlic
• 16 piece Banana leaves
• 16 piece Olives
• 1 piece Bell pepper
• to taste Salt

Method

1. Simmer the pork with the onion and salt for an hour. Strain and keep the broth.
2. Toast the seeds, sesame, chillies and tomatoes in a dry pan and blend them with broth; that is the recado.
3. Cook the recado twenty minutes to thicken it and season.
4. Slake the masa harina with warm broth, add the melted lard and work it twenty minutes over a low heat.
5. Pass the banana leaves over a flame for ten seconds each so they turn pliable.
6. On a leaf spread the dough, then a piece of meat, a spoon of recado, a strip of pepper and an olive. Wrap in two leaves.
7. Stack the parcels seam down in a pot and steam them for an hour and a half.