Masaya - Gastronomy

Gastronomy

Masaya boasts a varied culinary tradition based on pre-Columbian recipes. However, the most famous Masayan dishes are Nacatamal, Vaho, and yucca. Nacatamal, is a giant tamal so it's a full meal on its own right. Nacatamals are made of corn flour sprinkled with annato and salt, and mixed with pork, bacon, a bit or rice, potato slices, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, mint, Congo chilis, and prunes. Then everything is covered in plantain leaves, tied up with ropes, and boiled for a couple of hours on a giant pot. Due to their large size, Nacatamals are normally eaten at breakfast or supper with a loaf of bread and black coffee to help with digestion. Now, Vaho is another heavy, hearty meal. So it is normally eaten at lunch to allow for digestion the rest of the day. It consists of thick, long slices of cecina (salted, dried beef) marinated in sour orange juice. Then, the cecina is mixed with yucca, green plantains, ripe plantains, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, and placed on a pot with the interior walls covered in plantain leaves. Then, everything's cover up with the same leaves and a lid, and steam-cooked very slowly. Vaho is eaten with a side of big, thick Nicaraguan tortillas, and a light natural fruit drink like linaza, chía, or maracuyá. Yucca is a tuber with brown, scaly skin and a pure white flesh. It can be boiled, steamed, fried, or broiled and used for different dishes like Vigorón which is boiled yucca, topped with sweet-and-sour Nicaraguan salad made of cabbage cut into strips, diced tomatoes, onions, green currants, Congo chilis, vinegar, and salt.