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From the Meseta P'urhépecha of Michoacán, these small tamales wrap larded nixtamal masa, Pátzcuaro charal, and chile perón salsa in fresh maize leaves from the plant.
Michoacán, in the Meseta P'urhépecha above Uruapan and toward Pátzcuaro, is where this dish lives. The state is the map. The P'urhépecha kitchen is the authority. Tsïkanarhikatas are not just tamales with a hard name. They belong to the Tarasca lineage that was here before the Mexica tried and failed to swallow this region.
The wrapper matters first: hoja de maíz fresca de la planta, the green maize leaf cut from the plant, not the dry husk you buy in a supermarket bag. The masa is masa nixtamalizada, softened with manteca de cerdo until it holds air. The filling here carries charal from the lake world of Pátzcuaro and chile perón, the thick-fleshed yellow chile with black seeds that vendors in some markets call manzano. Those black seeds are not decoration. They tell you you bought the right chile.
I learned to ask for the P'urhépecha name before I asked for the recipe. Corunda, uchepo, jahuácata, chápata, nacatamal, toquera, tsïkanarhikata. The outside world says tamal as if one word can hold all of them. It cannot. Each has its masa, its leaf, its fold, its day, and its women who keep it alive.
The cocineras tradicionales around Uruapan, Pátzcuaro, and the Meseta are the transmission. They are the archive. My mother's notebook from Jalisco did not have this word, and that is exactly the point: Mexican cuisine has 32 faces, and inside Michoacán the P'urhépecha face has its own language. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
The P'urhépecha state, centered at Tzintzuntzan on Lake Pátzcuaro, resisted Mexica expansion before the Spanish arrival in the 1520s, and its language remains a language isolate with no proven relation to Nahuatl. The 2010 UNESCO inscription of Traditional Mexican Cuisine used the Michoacán paradigm and recognized community cooks, including cocineras tradicionales, as central to the transmission of milpa, nixtamal, and ceremonial cooking knowledge. Charales, small silverside fish of the Chirostoma genus including Chirostoma jordani, have long been part of the lacustrine diet around Pátzcuaro and Chapala, and their presence in tamales marks a lake-and-Meseta foodway, not a generic national filling.
Quantity
24 leaves
rinsed; 6 leaves torn into thin strips for tying; not dried corn husks
Quantity
2 pounds
for tamales
Quantity
3/4 cup
at room temperature, never shortening
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
Quantity
1 to 1 1/4 cups
as needed for the masa
Quantity
1 cup
picked over and quickly rinsed
Quantity
3 to 4
stems removed, black seeds kept or partly removed
Quantity
1 pound
husked and rinsed
Quantity
2
unpeeled
Quantity
1/4 medium
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for frying the salsa and charales
Quantity
2 sprigs
leaves chopped
Quantity
1/2 cup
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| hoja de maíz fresca de la plantarinsed; 6 leaves torn into thin strips for tying; not dried corn husks | 24 leaves |
| fresh masa nixtamalizada de maíz blanco or maíz criollofor tamales | 2 pounds |
| manteca de cerdoat room temperature, never shortening | 3/4 cup |
| sal de grano or fine sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| warm wateras needed for the masa | 1 to 1 1/4 cups |
| dried charales de Pátzcuaro (Chirostoma jordani et al.)picked over and quickly rinsed | 1 cup |
| fresh chile perón, also sold as chile manzanostems removed, black seeds kept or partly removed | 3 to 4 |
| tomatillos milperos or small tomatilloshusked and rinsed | 1 pound |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 2 |
| white onion | 1/4 medium |
| manteca de cerdofor frying the salsa and charales | 2 tablespoons |
| fresh epazoteleaves chopped | 2 sprigs |
| crema de rancho (optional)for serving | 1/2 cup |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Work with hoja de maíz fresca de la planta, the green leaf from the maize plant, not dried corn husk. Rinse the leaves and pass them over a warm comal de barro or cast iron comal for 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until they bend without cracking. Keep them under a damp servilleta while you work. Tear the narrowest leaves into strips for tying.
Pick through the dried charales and remove any grit. If they are very salty, rinse them quickly and pat them dry. Set a comal over medium heat and toast the charales for 2 to 3 minutes, moving them with your fingers or a wooden spoon, until they smell clean, nutty, and lake-sweet. Do not blacken them. Charal is small, and small fish punishes laziness fast.
Roast the tomatillos, chile perón, garlic, and onion on the comal until the tomatillos turn olive green with browned spots, the chile skins blister, and the garlic softens inside its paper. Peel the garlic. In a molcajete, grind the salt and garlic first, then the chile perón, then the onion, then the tomatillos. Leave the salsa with body. A blender works only if you pulse it. This is not a thin green soup.
Melt 2 tablespoons manteca de cerdo in a small clay cazuela over medium heat. Add about half the chile perón salsa and fry it for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until the color deepens and the fat shines at the edge. Add the toasted charales and chopped epazote. Cook 2 minutes more, just enough to coat the fish. Keep the charales whole. This is filling, not paste. Reserve the remaining salsa for serving.
In a wide bowl, beat the room-temperature manteca de cerdo with the salt until it looks creamy and lighter. Add the masa nixtamalizada in handfuls, working it with your fingers or a wooden spoon. Add warm water a little at a time until the masa is soft, spreadable, and leaves a light sheen of fat on your hands. Drop a small ball into cold water. If it floats, the masa has enough air. If it sinks, beat longer. No me vengas con atajos. La manteca es el sabor.
Lay one softened maize leaf flat, or overlap two small leaves if they are narrow. Spread 2 heaping tablespoons masa in the center, leaving a clear border. Spoon 1 teaspoon charal filling down the middle. Fold the long sides over the filling, roll into a tight narrow packet, and tie the ends or the center with leaf strips. A corunda is triangular. This is not a corunda. Each tamal in Michoacán has its own architecture, and this one belongs to the Meseta.
Line a tamalera or vaporera with extra fresh maize leaves. Add water below the rack and arrange the tsïkanarhikatas seam side down, leaving a little room between them. Cover with more leaves and a clean kitchen cloth, then close the pot. Cook over steady medium heat for 45 to 55 minutes, adding hot water if the pot runs low. Over leña is best when you can control it. In a city kitchen, keep the flame steady and do the work correctly.
Turn off the heat and let the tamales rest in the closed pot for 10 minutes. Open one. The masa should pull cleanly from the leaf and the charal filling should sit intact inside. Serve on a green-glazed Michoacán clay plate with the reserved chile perón salsa, crema de rancho, and lime halves. Say the name at the table: tsïkanarhikata. The name is part of the dish. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
1 serving (about 110g)
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