Tamales are of vital importance to Guatemalans because they adapt to any moment or meal, being used as a main course or as a side dish in any lunch or dinner.
How to prepare them
Additionally, they have the advantage of being very flexible in terms of ingredients used, so they can change according to economic conditions or personal taste. The most common times to enjoy them are on Saturdays and during Christmas—during this season, black tamales are popular, which are sweet because they are made with chocolate.
It is common to eat tamales with bread, and they can be made with pork, turkey, chicken, or chicken and corn flour, rice, salt, or a combination of these.
Something about their origin
The exact origin of the creation of tamales is unknown, but it is believed to come from the dominant cultures of Mexico, which brought it to other lands and facilitated its expansion across the continent.
Tamales are already described in Mexico by Friar Bernardino de Sahagún in 'General History of the Things of New Spain' at the beginning of the 16th century.
It is referenced that tamales are not only food for common folk but also desired by nobles and priests during special fasting ceremonies.
Their simple method of preparation enabled this and allowed different peoples to develop variants based on the products their lands provided and their culinary traditions. Today, although tamales are found in almost all countries of America, their preparation methods, sizes, and ingredients vary significantly from place to place.
In Guatemala, a wide variety of tamale styles can be found.
The most recognized include the red tamale, black tamale, Chipilín tamalitos, Cambray tamalitos, chepes or tayuyos, travel tamales, corn tamale, paches, and chuchitos.
The Red Tamales
Red tamales are among the most common and are made with a rice or corn dough topped with a special tomato sauce, a piece of meat—beef, chicken, pork, duck, or turkey—a strip of chili pepper, and an olive.
They are wrapped in a salt leaf and then in a banana leaf. This dish is very typical at Saturday night gatherings in Guatemalan homes and is a tradition during Christmas nights.
In the Western region of the country, they are generally prepared with rice or a mixture of rice and corn with pork or chicken.
Black Tamales
Another very popular recipe is the black tamales, which are made using the same base as the red ones but differ in flavor—being sweet and having a dark color due to the coffee sauce.
They contain chocolate and are often decorated with raisins, plums, and almonds.
Cambray tamalitos are sweet bean tamalitos made from corn dough with raisins and anise flavor. Part of the dough is colored with a red sauce and served with sour cream.
The chepes or tayuyos consist of a black bean filling shaped like a tortilla, and the famous chuchitos are a delightful treat of corn dough with dried cheese, served with a slightly spicy tomato sauce and meat, all wrapped in tusa, the leaf covering the corn.
All of these are just some of the countless tamal options offered by Guatemalan cuisine, which provides a rich variety of flavors, sizes, fillings, and accompaniments.
