Nacatamales

My host family is super excited to introduce me to the different foods of Nicaragua. During the 3 months of training, I hardly tried anything. I didn’t really have the opportunity to try the various foods but now my host family is making it a priority. They are eager to share their favorite dishes, restaurants, and drinks with me. I have been in site for a little under 2 months and I am quickly checking foods off my list. The next few posts will be all about food. So far, I have liked almost everything I have tried. It helps that my host mom is a great cook!

To make money, my host mom makes nacatamales every other Saturday. A nacatamal is a plantain leaf stuffed with cornmeal masa (dough), potato, pork, rice, tomato, onion & sweet chilis. The filling is packed in the plantain leaf and tightened with a small twine-like vine, that makes it look like a pillow, and then steamed to perfection over the course of many hours. She makes between 100 and 150 and sells to people in town. She takes orders in advance and of course makes a few extra.

I have been here for one of the Saturdays. On Friday, she does whatever she can do the night before. She washes the pork with a lime juice concoction and chops up some vegetables. Saturday morning she starts around 4am and with the help of our empleada they prepare the delicious delicacies. By mid-afternoon they are ready to be delivered. I thought people would eat them for dinner on Saturday, but it actually seems to be more common to eat them Sunday for a late breakfast with coffee. The day I was going to try them for the first time, I had no idea that we would wait so long to eat them. I was ready to eat mine for lunch on Saturday. Then once I saw the size, I thought maybe it would be for snack. I was sure we would eat them for dinner on Saturday, but no. I had mine heated up on Sunday morning with coffee. According to Wikipedia, “The nacatamal is perhaps the largest production within the traditional Nicaraguan kitchen and it is an event often reserved for Sundays at mid-morning, it is usually eaten together with fresh bread and Nicaraguan-style coffee.” I would have to agree.