My host mom, Maria (most people call her Chavelita, pronounced Cha-vay-lee-ta), is a tremendous cook. When she was younger she used to sell all kinds of food out of her house, operating her own little restauraunt, until 9 p.m. every day! She shared with me that when she would make tamales to sell, she would have to wake up and start cooking at 4 a.m. in order to make about 500 tamales. She would sell out within two hours! She always tells me how much she loves cooking and gets very excited every time I tell her I want to learn how to make her traditional dishes. Last weekend, I learned how to make tamales, which are a corn-based dough (masa) that is filled with savory or sweet ingredients, wrapped in a banana leaf, and then steamed.
Tamales with chicken and potatoes!
I could taste the love and care in every bite because tamales take a lot of time to prepare, and each one has to be carefully folded and wrapped by hand. Every ingredient was fresh and absolutely delicious. My host mom even made sure to make a few with extra of her homeade chile sauce, just for me, because I love spice! Every single bite was absolutely amazing.
