Meat Pastries and Delicacies Recipes: Filipino Tamales

                                   Filipino Tamales

A  Filipino alternative of tamales. Popular in Cavite and Pampangga.

Ingredients:
3 cups rice
5 cups coconut cream (thin & thick together)
2 tbsp atchuete seeds
2 cups white sugar
3 tsp powdered pepper
4 tbsp peanut butter

Topping:
1 cup flaked chicken meat (cooked)
2 hard boiled eggs
1 cup cooked pork (sliced into strips) or 3-4 Vienna Sausage (thin-round slices)

Cooking Procedures:
* Toast rice until brown. Grind finely. Add salt and pepper. Set aside. Add achuete coloring to coconut cream. Boil in medium heat stirring constantly. Add powdered rice, stir until well blended and thick.
* Separate 1/4 of cooked mixture and add to this the peanut butter. This mixture is for topping. For each tamales, put in 2-3 tablespoons of cooked mixture on two pieces of wilted banana leaves; top with 1 tablespoon peanut-butter mixture, 1-2 slices of hard-boiled egg, flaked chicken meat and strips of pork or sausage.
* Wrap to form a square and tie with a string. In a deep pan, put water enough to cover tamales. When water boils, put in tamales. Cover. Cook for 1 hour. Drain.