Chiapas … and a Tamale Masterclass

Tamales are one of the staple foods of Mexico, although the filling is usually made with lard, so we were delighted to find a cooking class at El Tizitz with a vegetarian option.

We found the blue door as directed …

… and were amazed to see the beautiful house and garden hidden behind such an unassuming door!

We were greeted by Irma and joined by Caitlin from Colorado, whose sister was poorly and unable to come, so just the three of us.

First we had a market tour, but photos were not encouraged. It was good to find how much we had learnt already since being in Mexico, realising that some of the fruit and veg were now familiar to us. This was a new one though, Guaje seeds which are either roasted as a snack or used fresh in salsas.

We were cooking three varieties of tamales – one flavoured with a herb called chipilin, containing a little red salsa and a cube of cheese, another with homemade mole with oyster mushrooms and a prune, and a dessert one mixed with cinnamon, chopped pineapple, raisins and some grated coconut.

Irma had done some preparation beforehand, including simmering the corn in water with lime for three hours to cook it.

We all helped with the tasks like stirring …

… soaking the corn husks to soften them to make wrappers …

… putting the corn through the Nixtamatic grinder twice to make the masa or dough …

… then mixing it with water and working it till smooth which Chris excelled at!

It was then time to start building the tamales, carefully encasing the filling in dough and wrapping them.

They were then layered into a pan with a trivet and cooked.

Meanwhile, we toasted tomatillos, garlic and chillis till scorched and worked them to a paste with a pestle & mortar before adding coriander and diced onion.

Everything was very tasty and it was a lovely experience …

… even if it unlikely I will make them again as I doubt I can just substitute Jolly Green Giant!

In the afternoon, we stopped at Casa Na Balom, once the home of Frans Blom, a Danish explorer and archaeologist, who with his wife researched and recorded the Mayan cultures of Chiapas. It is now a museum, hotel and research center dedicated to the protection of the Lacandon Maya and the rain forest, an area close to Palenque.

The building and garden were lovely …

… and there was a replica adobe hut …

… with Maya crosses inside …

… as well as old photos of the Lacandon people.

We also climbed up to Guadeloupe church before calling it a day.

Creatures of habit, once we find a restaurant we like, we often return a second time, so it was back to Balil for another lovely meal. This time we started with some little sopes, one of which was topped with cooked strips of cactus which we had seen in the market. It had a texture similar to peppers but a fresher more astringent taste and I’ll certainly be looking out for it again.

On our last day in San Cris, we took a taxi to the north of the town to the orchid reserve, where they conserve over 600 species of Chiapas orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes rescued from areas of deforestation.

We went in search of orchids and there were two greenhouses.

To begin with, it seemed little was in flower until we realised we just had to look carefully! We’ve been so spoilt with impressive cultivars, we almost overlooked these tiny treasures