This month’s recipe is Pibipollo, a traditional Janal Pixán dish eaten all over the Yucatán Peninsula. Janal Pixán is the Maya Day of the Dead, which lasts for a full month! During this time families will gather to celebrate their loved ones who have passed away, sharing memories and of course delicious food. Pibipollo is labor intensive, so is usually reserved for this special occasion. They often feature on ceremonial altars in Maya homes which are a key part of the remembrance celebrations.

The dish is a large round tamal, with a special chicken-based filling, cooked underground in a traditional Maya earthen oven. This way of cooking is called pib in Maya. While tamales are a popular dish all across Mexico and other parts of Latin America, those made in the Caribbean and Yucatán Peninsula are usually wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks more widely used in the rest of Mexico and in the US.

Ingredients

To serve 6 to 8 people

For the filling preparation:

2-2 ½ lbs chicken breasts and/or thighs

½ medium onion

2 o 3 garlic cloves

4 oregano leaves

2 cilantro sprigs

1 tsp. recado rojo (this is a paste of ground achiote, annatto, oregano, cumin, clove, cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, garlic, and salt)

1 tbs. lard

½ tsp. pepper

Salt al gusto (to taste)

Water for boiling the chicken

For the outer crust:

4 ½ lbs masa (Cornflour dough as used to make corn tortillas. We recommend using Maseca)

200g lard

Salt al gusto

2 banana leaves

Method

1- Cut the chicken into small pieces and place in a pot with the onion, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Cover the ingredients with water and parboil. Rehydrate the recado rojo with a teaspoon of water and/or lard and add to the pot before it comes to a boil.

2.- Once the chicken is cooked, place in another bowl and reserve the broth in the pot and then add the lard, bringing it back to a boil for three minutes. Remove the lard that is floating on the top of the mixture (This will be combined later with the masa for making the tamales, along with salt to taste, to add some flavor).

3.- Next make the k’ool, the distinctive orange sauce found in Maya tamales. Dissolve the masa in water ensuring that no lumps remain. Once this is complete add to the broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly in one direction until a medium thickness is reached and it begins to bubble, then remove from the heat. Leave to cool before continuing to the next step.

4.- Once all the previous steps are complete, proceed to clean the banana leaves with which we will be wrapping the pibipollos. If cooking in a traditional pib, you should light the fire now before constructing the pibipollos. If cooking at home, start preheating the oven to 350℉.

5.- To form the pibipollo, separate the masa into 2 parts: ⅔ and ⅓ parts. Take the ⅔ part of the masa and make a bowl shape making the base 1cm thick, 12 inches in diameter, and 2 ½ inches high on the sides. Spread with k’ool and then add the cooked chicken. Take the ⅓ part of the masa and shape it into a round size that will cover the top of the ‘bowl’. Once it’s sealed with the masa, wrap it in the prepared banana leaves and tie it with cooking twine to ensure it does not open while cooking.

6.- Place the pibipollo into the pib or oven. If cooking in a pib ensure you place a container of water in with the tamales to generate steam, and place a small stone on top of each pibipollo. Cover and cook for around an hour and a half. If cooking in an oven, bake for an hour and a half.

7.- Once it’s finished baking, remove the pibipollo and set aside to cool long enough to safely open the banana leaf covering. Then serve and enjoy, or place on your Janal Pixán altar. Pibipollos are best eaten fresh and hot, but will remain delicious for a few hours.

If you want to try out some other Mexican, Yucatec or Maya recipes from the Na’atik family, visit our blog where new recipes are uploaded every month, along with articles about culture, history and language.

If you want to sample the unique flavors of the Mexican Caribbean, the best place is in the kitchens of local families. Na’atik MaS (Maya and Spanish) immersion students stay with one of our local families during their time with us, sharing three meals a day with their host family. To find out more about how you can improve your language skills and experience the real Mexico, visit our immersion page or send our team an email at mas@naatikmexico.org today.