Pamonha - Sweet Brazilian Tamales

Tamales are are Latin American/Spanish patholi/adas. Ok, thats simply putting it. Being a Konkani from Kerala, I am used to (have grown up with ) patholi or ada or ela ada . These are sweet or savoury rice flour morsels where the batter is put on a banana leaves or even turmeric leaves and steamed till done. Tamales are morsels made with masa (cornmeal) dough and along with veggies or meat and steamed in corn husks or in certain cases banana leaves as well. Pamonhas are brazilian tamales where corn is grated,mixed with sweetner and milk and steamed/boiled in corn husks. These are usually associated with Festas Juninas celebrations there. As usual I have used the recipe from here and I can't say I have succeeded in creating perfect pamonha,but tasty they were.

Ingredients:

Fresh Ears of Corn : 3

Sugar: 2 bsp + as per taste

Salt: a pinch

Cold milk: 2 tbsp

Corn husks : for steaming

Preparation:

Gently remove the corn husks and keep aside. Make sure they are not torn as they have to hold the corn batter.

Grate the corn cobs in a big bowl. Sieve this extract to remove the solid particles. I did not do this and texture of my pamonha is grainy. But it never affects the taste.

To the sieved juice,add sugar and a pinch of salt.Mix well till sugar dissolves.Add in milk and mix well.

Now take trim the husks into rectangles. Using the original recipe words,

"Using a corn cob as a mold, wrap the cob in at at least four husks, remove the cob, and tie one end of the package of husks securely with kitchen twine. Carefully fill each package with the liquid corn mixture, then tie the other end of the package with twine tightly."

Now I did not use the corn cob as a mold,but simply tied the twine at one end using three husks.Then I put two-three tbsp of batter into it and closed it by tying the other ends together. The collage looks like this

 Steam the wrappers in a pressure cooker in medium heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour adding sufficient water and placing the wrappers in an appropriate vessel or else you can also place the wrappers in boiling water directly and simmer for 1 hour.Serve as a snack or dessert.

 

The estimate gives 8-10 pamonhas and is enough for atleast 4 people. Mine were not thick ones as shown in the original,but thinner.This again goes to AWED:Brazil at Saras's,an event by DK.

 

BTW,the pics are not that good. I am a bit busy in the mornings and whatever cooking -international experiments for me or blog cooking for my family- is done after 6 or 7 in the evening. So we had these pamonhas as dessert yesterday and the clicks were taken hurriedly. This recipe is by the best Pamonheira of Brazil. But whether I lived upto the standards set by her,I am not sure.Do try the pamonhas. You can also see the video tutorial here as well.

Acarajé - Black Eyed Pea Fritters from Brazil

These are simple fritters that are original from the state Bahia, from Northeast Brazil.The cuisine of that region is mainly a mix of African,Indian and Portuguese.These fritters are an excellent example of African influence on Brazil cuisine.It was taken to Brazil by the Nigerian slaves who went there and it is a popular street food in Brazil,Nigeria and Ghana.If you remember correctly I had earlier made black eyed pea fritters that were from Africa.Acarajé (ah-kara-JEH) are similar and I adapted it from here. Though they are fritters only, the way they are made is a bit time consuming and tests your patience.

Ingredients:
Black Eyed Peas: 1 cup
Onion: 1 small size quartered
Garlic: 1-2 small cloves
Salt : as per taste

Peanut Oil: for deep frying

Preparation:

Soak black eyed peas for atleast 24 hours to soften it. Wash in several waters stirring with your fingers so that as much skin can be removed as possible.I soaked for almost 3 days and washed 20-25 times.But still only could remove the skin of 3/4th of peas and the remaining were there in the batter and can be seen in the pics as black spots.

After removing the skin,grind the peas in a blender adding,onion,garlic and salt in batches if needed. I didnot add water while grinding. The water in the wet peas will facilitate this along with the salt added. You are supposed to have a smooth batter,but few beans(peas) did escape until I found them while frying. :(

Pour the batter in a bowl and with an electric beater or wooden spoon,beat the batter so that it incorporates air and increases in volume.The aeration is supposed to make the final fritter feel light.

With an appropriate scoop or spoon or ladle or hand, scoop up handful of batter and deep fry in hot peanut oil,in batches till golden brown.Make sure the oil is on medium-high heat as the insides have to to be cooked as well.Again,those familiar with vada will know how to go about with black eyed peas vadas er fritters.

This is usually served stuffed with or along with shrimp,shrimp sauce or stew or in my case with simple tomato sauce.This delectable fritters are off to AWED:Brazil at Sara's,an event by DK.

The acarajés were used as in places of Worship of the Candomblé religion in Brazil and thus can be described as the Food of Gods. The fritters are delish and truly fit for Gods and also Foodie Gods who read this. :)

I was making tomato -onion salad and thought onions will look nice when stuffed inside.