Corundas

Masa beaten light with lard and wrapped in the long leaf of the maize plant rather than the husk, folded to a triangle and steamed.

Not vegetarian — contains lard.

Ingredients

• 700 g masa, as on its own page
• 180 g lard
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150 ml warm water or stock
• about 30 long maize leaves, fresh or dried and soaked
• soured cream and salsa verde, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. IT IS WRAPPED IN THE LONG LEAF OF THE PLANT AND NOT IN THE HUSK, and that is the difference between this and every tamal. The husk is the short broad sheath around the cob, and it makes a parcel. The leaf is the long strap growing off the stalk, and it makes a triangle: the masa is dropped near one end and the leaf folded back on itself at an angle, again, and again, the way a flag is folded, until the whole length is used and a solid three-cornered packet is left. Wrapped in husk the same masa steams into a tamal and nobody would call it a corunda.
2. NO FILLING GOES IN, WHICH IS THE OTHER DIFFERENCE. The masa is the dish and it is eaten under cream and salsa. The folding geometry has nowhere to put a filling anyway: there is no single cavity, only the layers of the fold.
3. THE LARD IS BEATEN UNTIL IT IS WHITE AND LIGHT BEFORE ANY MASA GOES NEAR IT. Beaten alone for five minutes it takes in air and roughly doubles, and that air is the only leavening worth anything here. Stirred into the masa cold and unbeaten, the corundas steam dense and heavy and taste greasy rather than light.
4. THE TEST IS A TEASPOON OF THE MIXTURE DROPPED IN COLD WATER. If it floats, enough air has gone in and the corundas will be light. If it sinks, keep beating. This is worth doing because the mixture looks the same either way and there is no second chance once they are wrapped.
5. THEY ARE PACKED TIGHT AND STEAMED LONG. An hour and a quarter over steadily boiling water, packed close so they hold each other's shape. Loose in the basket they unfold and the masa escapes into the water. And the water is checked twice: a steamer that boils dry scorches the bottom layer and tastes of it throughout.
6. The leaves rinsed; dried ones soaked in hot water 30 minutes until pliable, then patted dry.
7. The lard beaten alone with an electric whisk 5 MINUTES until white, light and roughly doubled in volume.
8. The salt and baking powder beaten in, then the masa added in four or five additions, beating well between each.
9. The warm water or stock worked in a little at a time to a soft mixture that drops heavily from a spoon.
10. A TEASPOON DROPPED INTO COLD WATER: it must FLOAT. If it sinks, beat another 3 minutes and test again.
11. A leaf held with the wide end towards you, 2 tablespoons of mixture placed near that end, and the leaf folded back on itself at an angle, over and over down its length, to make a solid TRIANGLE. The tip tucked in.
12. Packed upright and TIGHT in a steamer over 5 cm of boiling water, and covered with any spare leaves.
13. Steamed 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES, the water topped up twice from the kettle.
14. ONE UNWRAPPED to test: the masa should come away from the leaf cleanly and be set right through. If it smears, another 15 minutes.
15. Served in their leaves, with soured cream and salsa verde.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes