This is an AI-generated image.

Tamal Costarricense

Name: Tamal Costarricense
Total time: 180 min
Yield: Serves 12
Cuisine: Costa Rica
Ingredients: 500g Precooked Corn Flour; 500g Pork Shoulder; 2 Potato; 50g Rice; 1 Carrot; 1 Red bell pepper; 12 Green Olives; 50g Green peas; 2 cloves Garlic; 1 tsp Achiote paste; 80ml Vegetable Oil; 2 tsp Salt; 1.5L Water; A pinch Cilantro

Main Dish

⏱ 180 min

👥 Serves 12

Difficulty ⭐⭐⭐

Corn dough wrapped around pork and vegetables, bundled in banana leaves, and boiled — the taste of Christmas in Costa Rica.

📱 Open in Storage App

🚧 The Storage app is currently in development. Please check back soon.

📖 The Story Behind This Dish

In Costa Rica, making tamales at Christmas is considered the most important family event of the year, and in December relatives gather to wrap dozens of them. Corn dough is topped with pork, rice, carrot, bell pepper, olives, and more, wrapped in banana leaves, tied in pairs (piñas), and boiled.

🌆 Where it's eaten: In a Costa Rican home in December, the whole family spreads dough and fillings on banana leaves covering the table and ties them two by two with string.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 12)

Precooked Corn Flour 500g
Pork Shoulder 500g
Potato 2
Rice 50g
Carrot 1
Red bell pepper 1
Green Olives 12
Green peas 50g
Garlic 2 cloves
Achiote paste 1 tsp
Vegetable Oil 80ml
Salt 2 tsp
Water 1.5L
Cilantro A pinch

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Boil the pork in water with garlic and salt until tender and dice. Reserve the cooking liquid.
Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes; boil and mash the potatoes.
Add the pork cooking liquid to the cornmeal, mashed potato, oil, achiote, and salt to make a smooth dough.
Spread 3 tbsp of dough on parchment paper and top with pork, rice, carrot, bell pepper, olives, peas, and cilantro.
Wrap into squares, wrap in foil, tie in pairs, and boil for 1 hour.

← More Costa Rica recipes 🗺 Explore another country