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.

Roasted Chinese Peas

Ingredients:

400 g Chinese peas
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbspchopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped onion
Salt and pepper

Preparing:

Preheat
oven to 200ºC (400ºF).

Mix and blend olive oil with cilantro, onion, salt and pepper.
Place peas on a baking tray and bathe with the mix above.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Chicken Creamy Soup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 l chicken broth
1 chicken, in pieces
1 cup milk
1 cup cooked peas
1/2 cup cream
2 boiled eggs (separate yolks and egg whites)
1/2 bar butter
Salt and pepper

Preparing:

Liquefy yolks with milk, cream and 1/2 l chicken broth.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Fry chicken in the butter and add the remaining broth, peas and chopped egg whites.
Season with salt and pepper and cook until it boils.

Pour the liquefied mixture and cook for 20 more minutes over medium heat and serve.