ROSSY EARLE – PANAMA
Tamales Competition
Born and raised in Panama City, Panama, Rossy prides herself in infusing Latin American flavours into whatever she creates, making it her goal to merge some of her roots into Canadian food culture.
With over 30 years under her belt, she’s currently working as a freelance chef, recipe developer and tester and food stylist in Toronto.
She’s had a hand in several TV shows including work for the Amazon Prime, CBC and the Food Network as well as producing digital content.
And she has also worked as a high performance chef for The Toronto Blue Jays.
She also has a line of hot sauces including the smoky “Diablo’s Fuego” hot sauce and it’s seasonal and sweeter -but not less spicy-sister sauce “Diabla’s Kiss”.
RECIPE: TAMALES PANAMEÑOS
Yields approximately 12 medium sized Tamales
3 Lbs prepared yellow corn masa
2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces
2 tsp dry oregano
½ cup olive oil
4 Tbsp Achiote/Annato oil
2 cups diced green pepper (½” dice)
2 cups diced red pepper (½” dice)
2 cups small dice onions
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup tomato paste
2 cups diced Roma tomatoes (or 1 – 796 ml can diced tomatoes)
1 habanero pepper, minced (optional)
8 culantro leaves, chopped (or sub with 1 cup chopped cilantro)
1 cup chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1 cup white wine
1 Lt chicken stock
Kosher salt & cracked black pepper to taste
Butcher Twine
2 Bags frozen Banana leaves
2 cups roasted red pepper strips
2 cups stuffed Manzanilla olives
½ cup capers
Raisins (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Season all the chicken pieces with dry oregano, salt, pepper and 1 tbsp of achiote oil and marinate in the fridge for an hour, longer is fine.
Heat remaining 3 tbsp achiote oil and olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat and cook the chicken pieces until golden.
Remove chicken pieces from the pot and add cubed pork, cooking it until brown on all sides. Remove from pot & set aside with chicken.
In the same pot over medium heat, sauté onions, garlic and bell peppers. Cook until soft but not brown. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, ½ each chopped culantro (or cilantro) chopped parsley, hot pepper, bay leaf, chicken stock and wine.
Add the chicken and the pork back to the pot and stir all ingredients well.
Top up mixture with one or two cups of water or more chicken stock if needed for chicken pieces to be covered.
Cover with a lid and cook over medium low heat for one hour, stirring occasionally until the meats are tender.
Remove pot from heat.
Remove chicken from mixture, cool until easy to handle by hand then take meat off the bone, breaking it into smaller pieces then add back to the pot.
Adjust seasoning if needed.
Over a large bowl or pot, strain all liquid from chicken mixture and set aside.
You’ll need about 12 cups of liquid so if the strained mixture doesn’t yield enough, add more chicken stock or water to it.
Add remaining chopped culantro and parsley to the chicken/pork filling mixture and mix well.
In the large bowl/pot, start adding the corn flour by sprinkling it on the broth while stirring with a large wooden spoon to obtain smooth, soft dough. Add more liquid if necessary for the dough to be moist but not too runny.
Cover and set the masa bowl aside to rest for a few minutes.
Rinse the banana leaves in the sink, cut into 12” lengths then place in a container with hot water, to soften them up for a few minutes
On a flat clean work surface, put 1 leaf (or 2 overlapping each other, depending on how big you want them) and then place about 1 cup of corn dough in the center, making a small well in the middle. Then place a heaping spoonful of the filling mixture, a strip of roasted red pepper, a few olives, some capers and a little more corn dough on top.
Fold the longer two sides into the middle then the other two sides into it to make a tight rectangular package. Tie with butcher twine like a little gift parcel and set aside, repeat until all the masa is done. Any leftover filling can be frozen.
Using a steamer over a pot with a few inches of simmering water, steam the tamales for 45 minutes, keeping an eye on simmering water level to make sure it doesn’t evaporate completely. Remove from heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.
An alternative method if you don’t have a steamer, is to wrap the tamales tightly in foil after they are tied up, then carefully placed in a large pot of boiling water, reduce heat to medium, cover with a lid and cook for 35 minutes.
Remove from water, drain then let them rest for 10 minutes.
Place on a plate, (remove foil first if used) cut twine, unwrap and serve right on the banana leaf if desired with a side of hot sauce.
Buen Provecho!