Chamorro Recipe for Sweet Tamales Mendioka - Guam PDN Article #1

 I get to write about Guam food for the PDN, holy smokes

Never say never. As a teenager on Guam, I told my bestie that I’d never leave Guam, I’d never live anywhere but Guam, and I’d never marry into the military. Turns out, I did all three. My mahålangness has enabled me to write about Guam food through my cookbooks, my website, my YouTube channel, and now for the PDN starting back in May 2021. I’ve gone from sharing and preserving our recipes to researching the history of our food, how our food connects us to the rest of the world, and how we can make small changes in how we eat so that we can thrive in the years to come. Let’s continue to celebrate this delectable palate we’ve inherited. How blessed we are, for sure.

Sweet Tamåles Mendioka with Ice Cream and Mango

My oldest memory of sweet tamåles mendioka was this big hunk of sweet chewiness, wrapped in foil, cut in half, and served up at a fiesta. Almost 40 years later, it still makes me giddy. The addition of toppings is a luscious treat.

Vanilla ice cream and local ripe mango atop warm sweet tamåles mendioka – a tropical version of apple pie? Almost. This adaptation of CHamoru sweet tamåles mendioka is a play on Thai mango sticky rice.

The preparation of tamåles, or tamal, originated in Mexico and Central America, in a time before the Aztecs and the Mayans. Wild species of cassava, or mendioka in CHamoru, is thought to have first been growing in Brazil and Paraguay. With Spanish colonization and the Manila Galleon Trade Route, tamåles preparation and the mendioka plant made it to Guåhån. Although CHamorus favor a sweet version of cassava tamåles, many Latin American countries, such as Puerto Rico, cook savory flavors.

There is sweet cassava and bitter cassava. Bitter cassava contains large amounts of poison. To keep it simple, use the frozen grated cassava unless you know for sure you are buying or harvesting sweet mendioka.

Consuming mendioka was less popular in CHamoru cuisine during Spanish colonization compared to sweet potatoes and yam, but I bet these days you’d grab a handful of sweet tamåles mendioka in a heartbeat. Instead of corn husks, CHamorus and Filipinos likely used banana leaves because banana trees grew better in the tropics compared to cornstalks. Since World War II, it has become common practice to wrap tamåles in foil. Use fresh leaves on island, or if stateside, look for banana leaves in the frozen section of your international grocer. The leaves do impart an earthy aroma, a subtle flavor, and a bit of color. After wrapping in banana leaves, I then wrap the sweet tamåles in foil to prevent the flavor and texture from becoming diluted as they boil.

Guåhån’s sweet tamåles mendioka is similar to the Philippine’s sumang kamoten kahoy. Suman kamoten kahoy is made with grated cassava, coconut milk, and sugar. I offer two recipes below, one using fresh ingredients, the other using frozen and canned. Both recipes utilize scrubbed and rinsed banana leaf sections, each measuring about 10 x 10 inches, with hard ribs removed. Make ties for the tamåles by pulling thin strips of banana leaves apart and tying three pieces together.

Make 10 to 12 pouches. Recipe may be multiplied.

INGREDIENTS

FRESH

4 cups grated, fresh cassava mix (If cassava is dry, add enough coconut milk or young coconut juice to the fresh cassava to form a thick, wet mixture then measure 4 cups.)

2 cups fresh månha (young coconut) pulp

½ cup fresh månha juice or fresh coconut milk

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

FROZEN

2 – 16-ounce bags frozen, grated cassava, thawed (Do not thaw in water.)

2 – 15-ounce cans young coconut, drained, pulp roughly chopped

1 cup canned, thick coconut milk

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

TOPPINGS

Vanilla ice cream

Ripe mango, diced

Tools: large bowl, large whisk, a pot, ½-cup measuring cup, and pre-made foil sheets

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, combine the mendioka, månha, sugar, and the månha juice OR coconut milk. Mix with your hand or a large whisk.

Soften the banana leaves in a pan of hot water, or by running the leaf over a hot burner or grill. Lay the leaf such that the natural lines of the leaf run left to right. Scoop a generous half cup of the mixture onto the center of the leaf, being sure to somewhat spread the mixture left to right. Bring top and bottom edges of the leaf together, fold it a couple of times then fold left and right ends as well. Secure the folds with a tie along the long edge of the tamåle. Wrap this package with two foil sheets, folded in the same manner. Tamåle should be about 1 inch thick. Repeat to finish the mixture.

To cook, fill a pot with tamåles then cover with water. The tamåles should take up the entire pot such that they are not floating in the water. Cover the pot and bring to a gentle boil for 60 minutes. Open one tamåle to ensure it is cooked all the way through. The tamåle is cooked when it is completely transparent. If there are white parts of grated cassava, continue to boil 15 to 20 more minutes. Set aside cooked tamåles for an hour to firm up. Remove foil covering to serve.

Uncooked tamåles may be stored in freezer storage bags and kept in the freezer. Boil in the same manner, no need to thaw. Cook for about 75 minutes then check for doneness.

Place a warm, unwrapped sweet tamåles mendioka on a plate. Top with vanilla ice cream then add a generous amount of ripe mango. Tell me you love it!

Here’s a link to my detailed video for sweet tamåles mendioka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zb-IyW2fkA&t=906s

*First appeared in the Guam PDN May 2021

Paula Lujan Quinene

Enjoying CHamoru food in a fasting lifestyle.

Reach out to Paula at pquinene@gmail.com

Paula’s home on the web is – www.PaulaQ.com

“Guam Mama Cooks” on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok

Author of A Taste of Guam, Remember Guam, Conquered, and Stormed