North of the border, little is known or understood about the regional foods of Mexico. This past June, when I took my students to Mexico for a summer Spanish immersion course, I introduced them to corundas, a kind of tamal originating in Michoacan (shown here:)
The tamal is wrapped in the green outer leaf of the corn, shaped, more or less into a triangle. You can add filling to the masa or simply pour cream and green (tomatillo) or red salsa on top. Whenever it can be found, tequesquite, a mineral salt, is used as a leavening agent when cooking the masa, a practice that dates back to the Aztecs. A good substitute for tequesquite is baking soda.
| Corundas |
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Author:
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lbs corn masa prepared according to the instructions on the bag
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup shortening
- cup milk
- Husks of 10 tomatillos
- Green corn husks
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil the tomatillo husks in about 1 ½ cups water with the baking powder.
- Strain the water, disposing of the husks, and mix the broth with the milk.
- Beat the shortening until it is fluffy.
- Very graduallly, add to this shortening the milk-tomato-water mixture and continue to beat it.
- When it is well mixed, very gradually add the corn dough (masa) mixture, beating more.
- Add salt to taste.
- Make a cone shape with the corn husks and scoop dough into the cones.
- Wrap the husks into a triangle shape and tie with a thin piece of corn husk or cooking twine.
- Place the corundas in a steamer and steam for approximately one hour.
- Serve with crema mexicana and a green or red salsa.
Notes
Corn masa can be found in most grocery stores in the U.S. One well-known brand is Maseca.
