Link all over Mexico, the cuisine in Chiapas has its own traditions and a vast variety of ways to make tamales, like the Jacuané Tamales (or juacamé tamales) that are made with beans, shrimp, and hoja santa (“Mexican pepperleaf”). I invite you all to continue our delicious traditions and to make this recipe that we found in the book Las Senadoras suelen guisar (“Senators that Cook”), edited in 1964.
INGREDIENTS for Jacuané Tamales
- Shrimp
- 30 hojas de Santa María (“Mexican pepper leaves”)
- 1 kilo of cooked beans
- 230 grams of shrimp heads
- 230 grams of pumpkin seeds
- 3 spicy chilies
- 1 kilo of nixtamal dough, hot (you can buy it at tortillerías, tortilla factories)
- 230 grams of butter
- Salt, to taste
- 2 bunches of dry corn husks
INSTRUCTIONS
Roast the shrimp heads and pumpkin seeds in a comal and grind with the chili. Strain mixture so that no remains of the heads are left; Grind and fried cooked beans with butter. Stir the dough well with butter and salt. Rinse the Mexican pepper leaves (also known as the holy leaf) and place a tortilla on top of each. Add a layer of beans and a pumpkin seeds, as well as shrimp and chili; Roll and flatten a little so that when they are cooked they do not disassemble. Cook in a pot and wrap with dried corn leaves, called totomates.
