Tamales Around the World

Used with permission from: Cocina Connection Tamales by © 2006 La Plaza de Cultura y Artes

All around the globe and far beyond the boundaries of Mexico, other creative cooks have come up with the idea of wrapping delicious fillings inside leaves. In some places, the leaves are just a wrapper for the food that is eaten, as in tamales; in other countries or cultures, the leafy wrapper is eaten along with the filling.

Come along on a tour of some foods that, when you stop to think about them, are surprisingly similar to tamales. As you explore the world of food on your own, you'll probably find even more examples. Take a look:

The Americas

Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Nacatamales: Buttery cornmeal masa mixed with potatoes, onions and chiles,stuffed with seasoned chicken or pork
and steamed in banana leaves.

Dominican Republic
Niño envuelto: "Wrapped baby,"
seasoned ground meat and rice
wrapped in edible cabbage leaves and cooked in a spicy tomato sauce.

Puerto Rico
Pasteles: Pork or beef with mashed banana, boiled inside a cornhusk or the leaf of the plantain tree.

AFRICA

Congo
Liboké: Bite-sized pieces of beef or other meat with peanuts, onions and chiles, steamed or roasted inside a banana leaf.

Gabon and Zaire
Chickwangue: Mashed cassava or yucca root steamed inside banana leaves.

Ghana
Kenkey: Ground dried corn, partly cooked as a porridge and then wrapped in banana leaves or cornhusks and steamed.

Nigeria
Nyami: Large sweet root vegetables
wrapped in banana leaves and baked.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

China
Joong or Zongzi: Sweet rice with black bean paste--or savory rice with meat, dried shrimp, egg yolk, water chestnuts and peanuts--steamed inside a bamboo leaf.

Nor my gai: Sticky rice with
bits of roast pork, sausage,
shrimp, mushrooms and egg,
steamed inside a lotus leaf.

Patra ni macchi:
Spicy fish fillets steamed inside a
banana leaf.

Japan
Norimaki: A type of sushi, made by rolling up sticky rice with fish or vegetables inside an edible sheet of dried seaweed, nori.

Laos
Moke: Fish with lemon
grass, chiles, garlic, herbs and
sticky rice, steamed inside
squares of banana leaf.

Philippines
Bodbod: Sticky rice with coconut milk, steamed inside a banana leaf.

Patupat: Rice cake steamed inside a banana leaf. Pinais: Shrimp with shredded coconut steamed inside a banana leaf.

Thailand
Gai hoh bai toey: Spicy chicken meat steamed inside a square cut from the sweet, fragrant leaf of the pandanus plant, known as bai toey.

Japan
Norimaki: A type of sushi, made by rolling up sticky rice with fish or vegetables inside an edible sheet of dried seaweed, nori.

EUROPE

France
Chou farçi: A hollowed-out whole edible cabbage filled with chopped meat, onion and herbs, simmered in broth.

Greece
Dolmathes: Seasoned rice or ground
meat with pine nuts simmered or baked
inside edible grape leaves.

Poland
Holishkes: "Little doves," seasoned ground beef and rice wrapped in edible cabbage leaves and simmered in a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce.

Ukraine
Golubtsi or Holubtsi: Ground meat and rice with onion, rolled up in edible cabbage leaves and simmered in tomato sauce.

!Buen Provecho!