Typical Costa Rican Tamales for Christmas

Ingredients:

2 ½ kg of banana leaves
1 kg of corn flour
½ kg pork post Tamales Típicos de Costa Rica para Navidad
½ kg of green beans, cooked
4 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup lard
1 cup rice, cooked to taste with achiote
6 chicken broth envelopes
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 sweet peppers, cut into strips
1 cilantro roll
1 chicken breast
1 celery stalk
1 thyme sprig
1 hot pepper
1 carrot, cooked and sliced
1 can petit pois
1 wick roll
Salt and ground cumin to taste

Preparing:

Cook pork with garlic, thyme, celery, hot peppers and salt.
Remove meat from broth and crumbled.
Reserve the broth and strain.

Cook chicken in a little oil with achiote, hot peppers, cilantro and broth.

Separately, mix well in a pot corn flour with the mashed potatoes, oil, lard, chicken broth, salt, a little chicken and meat broth and any other condiment of your choice.

Trim the leaves and wash them well.

Place a big tablespoon of dough on two banana leaves.
Add a spoonful of rice, a piece of meat, a piece of chicken, 2 carrots slices, 1 strip of pepper, 2 green beans, petit pois, a sprig of cilantro and any other ingredients you want.

Wrap each tamale well, leaving no or too tight or too loose.
Join 2 tamales and wrap them well.
Cook in boiling water for 45 minutes.

* Reserve a bit of pork and chicken broth to the end, if the mass that gives very dry.
* The dough should be well mixed and wet, if it becomes too dry the tamal can be hard.

Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms on Bread

Ingredients:

250 g sliced mushrooms
200 g grated Manchego cheese
4 beaten eggs
1/2 chopped onion
1 baguette
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Preparing:

Fry the onion in butter.
Add the mushrooms and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Add the egg and cheese.

Cut the bread into slices and toast.
Serve eggs on bread.

Spicy Valentine’s Shrimp Stew

Ingredients:

1 kg jumbo shrimps
1/4 kg gouda or swiss cheese, chopped
150 g butter
1 cup shrimp broth
1 cup cream
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup Peruvian yellow hot sauce
1/4 cup white wine
3 eggs
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp paprika
Salt y pepper

Preparing:

Cook the onion, garlic and nuts with the butter.
Add the paprika, hot sauce and tomato and cook for 5 minutes.
Add flour and cook for 3 more minutes.
Add the white wine and shrimp broth and season to taste.
Add shrimps and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the cheese and cream.