Tamales Oaxaqueños

Tamales are a pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican food, and in Oaxaca and across southern Mexico they are traditionally wrapped in banana leaf rather than corn husk — largely a matter of what grows close at hand, since the broad leaves are abundant in the warm south where corn husks are less so. The leaf does double duty, both wrapping the tamal and lending it flavor. The defining filling, mole negro, is the most complex of Oaxaca's seven moles, a colonial-era layering of native chiles, cacao and turkey with Old-World spices, almonds and bread. Putting that ceremonial mole inside the banana-leaf tamal gives a dish that is festive by nature, made in large batches for celebrations and sold at Sunday markets; it is folk and feast cooking rather than a dish with a single recorded origin.

You unfold the banana leaf and a green, almost tea-like aroma rises off a flat, soft, dark-streaked tamal. The masa is tender and moist — flatter and a touch denser than a fluffy husk tamal — and pulls away from the leaf in soft sheets. The mole inside is the whole event: a slow build of burnt-bread bitterness, dried-chile fruit, and a long bittersweet chocolate-and-clove finish, with shreds of tender chicken carrying the sauce. It does not taste sweet despite the chocolate. The leaf's faint perfume runs under everything, and the contrast of pale masa against near-black mole is part of the pleasure.

Two things define the tamal. The masa is nixtamalized corn beaten with lard and broth until light, but spread thin and flat rather than mounded, so it steams into a flatter, sliceable layer. The mole negro is the labor-intensive heart: a dozen-plus dried chiles, seeds, nuts, bread, plantain and spices are toasted — some scorched dark on a comal — then ground and simmered into a thick, emulsified, glossy sauce. The banana leaf is briefly passed over a flame to make it soft and pliable and to release its aromatic oils, then used to wrap the spread masa and mole. Steaming gelatinizes the masa starches and melds the mole into it while the warmed leaf infuses a green, grassy perfume the corn husk cannot give. The flat shape and leaf wrap are the signatures that separate it from a husk tamal.