A Little Background
When it comes to cooking for the family, there is no better person for the job than my mother, Monica Perez Martinez. While she does enjoy being able to cook different foods from different cultures, one dish that has really made an impression on my mother are my grandmother's Colombian Tamales. Simply put, it did not matter whether tidings were good or bad, tamales always brought the family together in the most unbelievable and delicious way they could imagine, as if one moment there were arguments, and the next everyone is enjoying each other's company.
Growing up, my mother did not have much wealth, especially since she shared a house with three brothers, two sisters, and two parents, and over a dozen animals. She was the oldest sibling in the house, and perhaps the closest in terms of an emotional relation with her mother (my grandmother). No matter what happened or what went wrong, my mother always loved her family unconditionally, and knew that deep down her mother loved her children enough to take care of them and give them the opportunities that she herself did not have growing up. My mother always did what she could to help, and that in turn created a kind-hearted soul that is my mother, despite the hard times she had to experience in Colombia.
However, no matter what problems there were throughout the year, she always looked forward to Christmas. That's because on Christmas Day, Mamita, which was what my grandmother liked us calling her, would get up and prepare the tamales that were not only inexpensive to make, but also had that taste that reminded each child that despite the problems that they have had over the year, now is the time to bond as a family. Every year, that's what they did: they would get together; and even now, the tradition keeps on going. That's what the tamales represented to both me and my family: We may have our differences, we may fight, we may even not be wealthy, but that does not matter. What matters is that we have each other and that we must never stop being a family. To this day, someone in my mother's family makes tamales, and anyone who wants to bond over one is welcomed to do so.
Growing up, my mother did not have much wealth, especially since she shared a house with three brothers, two sisters, and two parents, and over a dozen animals. She was the oldest sibling in the house, and perhaps the closest in terms of an emotional relation with her mother (my grandmother). No matter what happened or what went wrong, my mother always loved her family unconditionally, and knew that deep down her mother loved her children enough to take care of them and give them the opportunities that she herself did not have growing up. My mother always did what she could to help, and that in turn created a kind-hearted soul that is my mother, despite the hard times she had to experience in Colombia.
However, no matter what problems there were throughout the year, she always looked forward to Christmas. That's because on Christmas Day, Mamita, which was what my grandmother liked us calling her, would get up and prepare the tamales that were not only inexpensive to make, but also had that taste that reminded each child that despite the problems that they have had over the year, now is the time to bond as a family. Every year, that's what they did: they would get together; and even now, the tradition keeps on going. That's what the tamales represented to both me and my family: We may have our differences, we may fight, we may even not be wealthy, but that does not matter. What matters is that we have each other and that we must never stop being a family. To this day, someone in my mother's family makes tamales, and anyone who wants to bond over one is welcomed to do so.
Partial Family Tree
The Tamale Petty Officer
Ingredients
- 3 chicken thighs, skin removed and cut in half lengthwise with equal portions of meat
- 6 spareribs
- 3 bunches of green onions
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
- 2 tsps. sazon Goya (2 packets of Goya seasoning)
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- Salt
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 cups of masa harina (dough flour)
- Chicken broth
- 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup frozen green peas
- 2 large red potatoes, scrubbed ad sliced into sticks like French fries
- Banana leaf, cut into 12 inch square pieces, rinsed with very hot tap water
Instructions (Yields 6 tamales)
- Prepare the marinade the night before you plan to make the tamales (to my grandmother, this was a vital step in being able to capture enough flavor). Chop one bunch of green onions. Mince two garlic cloves. Combine, then add 1 teaspoon ground cumin and one packet of sazon. Rub mixture all over both the chicken and the ribs. Place meat in separate plastic baggies to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
- Next, make the "hogao," a kind of sofrito (similar to tomato sauce). Combine chopped tomatoes, 1 bunch of chopped green onions, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 packet of sazon, olive oil and salt to taste in a skillet and sauté until everything is soft and tender, kind of like a mush. Cool and refrigerate until ready to assemble tamales.
- Prepare masa harina according to package directions except use chicken broth in place of water and salt to taste. This mixture should have flavor unlike an arepa which is more bland. It should be fairly moist, but still stay together like a dough when pressed. If it is too wet you can still use it, it is just more messy.
- Place about 1/4 cup of dough in the center of a banana leaf and spread it out. Place one rib and one chicken thigh piece on top. Place about 3 slices of the carrot and 6 potato sticks. Sprinkle with peas. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the "hogao" (sofrito) over all, then top with another 1/2 cup spread out masa. This does not have to be uniform or even neat.
- Next, pull up the sides of the banana leaf to form a packet. Tie with kitchen string, but do not let any of the filling seep out. If the leaves break just reinforce with extra banana leaves. Wrap packet in aluminum foil. Repeat 5 times.
- Use a large Dutch oven with a steamer insert so the tamales do not touch the water in the bottom of the Dutch oven. These need to cook about 3 hours. You probably will have to replenish the water during the cooking process. Stack the tamales all the way to the top in the steamer pot and turn up the heat to high. If your pot does not hold all of them, just refrigerate or freeze the rest until you can steam them later. When you hear the water boiling furiously, turn the heat down to medium.
- Serve the tamales warm or hot on a section of banana leaf.
Most people in America would probably prefer to have pie, turkey, or any other comfort food to bring people together, but all my family needs to be satisfied are my grandmother's tamales. No matter what day of the week, my extended family would scarf them down and talk about each other's day. That was something else that tamales were really great at: giving people comfort. Granted, they already had the ability to bring people together, but the tamales represented a big part of my mother's culture and traditions. They went well for any occasion, but they became special when they were only made for a specific occasion like Christmas.
When I asked my mother why she considered the tamales a staple, she said it was because it was a traditional dish that many households in her home country considered to be essential to their culture. I myself have visited Cali, Colombia, the city where my mother had lived, and almost instantly I understood what my mother meant. Most of the homes I saw near my mother's neighborhood were designed for functionality, without retaining a financial burden to the homeowners: clothes racks on the top levels of the houses, showers with no hot water, stores and marketplaces below where people ate and slept, and the use of fans instead of air conditioners. I could also tell that tamales represented almost everything that Cali, Colombia stood for: while there is not a great deal of wealth, tradition and culture allow the spirit of the people to stay lit for so long. Despite all of the hardships the people endure on a daily basis, they a very important ideal in mind: living life to the fullest is not about living life with money, it's about living life with all of your heart and your soul. As long as someone retains that, no matter where they go, no matter what they do, they will always feel content with what they have.
To my mother, the fact that her mother took the time to make the tamales was enough for her to believe that she loved her family with all of her heart. She even kept that belief, and the recipe, in her heart when she left Colombia to start a new life in the U.S. She spent most of her years earning the money she needed to help her family reach the U.S. and make a fresh start for themselves. My mother was always kind to everyone she met when she was on her own. In fact, the first job she ever had was being a maid for a man who lived in River Oaks and was disabled. She never stopped giving, always gave someone a fair chance, and was always willing to help someone if they needed it. It was because of those memories of my grandmother's cooking that my mother has become one of the kindest people anyone could ever meet, which in turn influenced the way my mother thought about her culture. Because of that, my mother had the determination to make some traditions of her own; traditions that I take great pride in and hope to pass on to my future children.
When my mother started her own family, she used the recipe she had memorized to make tamales for whenever she was asked to do so for family get-togethers. They were always a hit, no matter what time of the year they were made; but she always looked forward to Christmas time. That's because Christmas time always reminded her of the family bonding she had done when she was a kid. Plus, even though my mother knew the recipe, she always thought that Mamita made them best. Even after all of these years, my mother never forgets the happy memories she shared with her family, how close they have become now that they are all adults, and how it all started with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and seasonings wrapped in banana leaves.
When I asked my mother why she considered the tamales a staple, she said it was because it was a traditional dish that many households in her home country considered to be essential to their culture. I myself have visited Cali, Colombia, the city where my mother had lived, and almost instantly I understood what my mother meant. Most of the homes I saw near my mother's neighborhood were designed for functionality, without retaining a financial burden to the homeowners: clothes racks on the top levels of the houses, showers with no hot water, stores and marketplaces below where people ate and slept, and the use of fans instead of air conditioners. I could also tell that tamales represented almost everything that Cali, Colombia stood for: while there is not a great deal of wealth, tradition and culture allow the spirit of the people to stay lit for so long. Despite all of the hardships the people endure on a daily basis, they a very important ideal in mind: living life to the fullest is not about living life with money, it's about living life with all of your heart and your soul. As long as someone retains that, no matter where they go, no matter what they do, they will always feel content with what they have.
To my mother, the fact that her mother took the time to make the tamales was enough for her to believe that she loved her family with all of her heart. She even kept that belief, and the recipe, in her heart when she left Colombia to start a new life in the U.S. She spent most of her years earning the money she needed to help her family reach the U.S. and make a fresh start for themselves. My mother was always kind to everyone she met when she was on her own. In fact, the first job she ever had was being a maid for a man who lived in River Oaks and was disabled. She never stopped giving, always gave someone a fair chance, and was always willing to help someone if they needed it. It was because of those memories of my grandmother's cooking that my mother has become one of the kindest people anyone could ever meet, which in turn influenced the way my mother thought about her culture. Because of that, my mother had the determination to make some traditions of her own; traditions that I take great pride in and hope to pass on to my future children.
When my mother started her own family, she used the recipe she had memorized to make tamales for whenever she was asked to do so for family get-togethers. They were always a hit, no matter what time of the year they were made; but she always looked forward to Christmas time. That's because Christmas time always reminded her of the family bonding she had done when she was a kid. Plus, even though my mother knew the recipe, she always thought that Mamita made them best. Even after all of these years, my mother never forgets the happy memories she shared with her family, how close they have become now that they are all adults, and how it all started with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and seasonings wrapped in banana leaves.