Tamal Tolimense

Ingredients

• 400 g dried yellow split peas
• 300 g medium-grain white rice
• 300 g masarepa (precooked white cornmeal)
• 800 g pork shoulder, cut into 8 pieces
• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
• 200 g pork belly, cut into 8 strips
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and halved
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 carrots, sliced into rounds
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 spring onions, chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground annatto (achiote)
• 3 tbsp lard
• 1 tbsp fine salt, plus more for the meats
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 12 large banana leaves, cut into 30 cm squares
• Kitchen string

Before you cook

• Cover the split peas with cold water the night before and leave them to soak.
• Rub the pork shoulder, pork belly and chicken thighs with the crushed garlic, half the cumin, half the spring onions, salt and pepper, then refrigerate them overnight.
• Soak the rice in cold water for two hours, then drain it well.
• Drain the soaked peas and blitz them coarsely with 300 ml fresh water, leaving some texture.
• Peel and quarter the potatoes, slice the carrots and hard-boil and halve the eggs.
• Cut the banana leaves into thirty centimetre squares and wipe them clean.

Steps

1. Pass each banana leaf square briefly over a gas flame or a hot dry pan until it turns bright green and pliable.
2. Stack the softened leaves under a cloth so they stay supple.
3. Melt the lard in a small pan over medium heat.
4. Fry the onion, remaining spring onions, remaining cumin and the annatto for six minutes until the fat is deep orange.
5. Tip the coloured lard and onions into a large bowl.
6. Add the blended peas, the drained rice, the masarepa, the salt and the pepper to the bowl.
7. Mix hard with your hands for three minutes until you have a loose, spoonable paste the thickness of porridge.
8. Lay two banana leaf squares on the worktop in a cross, shiny side up.
9. Spoon a generous ladle of masa into the centre and spread it into a circle about fifteen centimetres wide.
10. Lay one piece of pork shoulder, one chicken thigh and one strip of pork belly on the masa.
11. Add half an egg, a potato quarter and a few carrot rounds beside the meat.
12. Cover everything with a second ladle of masa, sealing the filling in.
13. Fold the near and far edges of the leaves over the filling, then fold in the sides to make a tight square parcel.
14. Tie the parcel firmly in both directions with kitchen string.
15. Repeat until you have eight parcels.
16. Line the base of a very large pot with spare banana leaf offcuts.
17. Stack the tamales in the pot and pour in enough boiling water to cover them completely.
18. Set a plate on top to keep them submerged, cover the pot and simmer steadily for three hours, topping up with boiling water as needed.
19. Lift out one tamal and open a corner to check the masa is firm and no longer chalky.
20. Rest the tamales for fifteen minutes before untying them at the table.