Boil

Güanimes

January 24, 2024
5
2 Ratings
Photo by Food52
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • makes 10 to 12 güanimes
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
  • 2 cups yellow cornmeal
  • 1 ear fresh corn
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 10-12 banana leaves (cut into squares large enough to wrap the dumplings)
  • Kitchen string or twine, for wrapping
Directions
  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Clean the banana leaves and heat them slightly over a flame or in a skillet to make them pliable. Cut them into approximately 8x8-inch squares.
  2. Heat water and coconut milk in a pan until simmering. Add brown sugar and salt, stir to dissolve.
  3. Add cornmeal and stir until the mixture forms a soft, cohesive dough. Adjust with a bit more cornmeal or water if needed.
  4. Take a portion of the dough and shape it into a log, about 4 inches long in the center of the banana leaf square.
  5. Fold the banana leaf around the dough, making a sausage shape, and tie each end closed with string.
  6. Place the güanimes in the boiling water and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until they are firm.
  7. Remove the güanimes from the pot, allow them to cool slightly, then unwrap and serve warm.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Recipe by: César Pérez

Recipe Developer & Food52 Test Kitchen Content Creator

4 Reviews

Nancy M. April 13, 2024
So now they have replaced the Lucas Sim spinach recipe with this one, which apparently is impossible to make because it is so poorly written and has already been up too long. I wish Food 52 would take food more seriously. I have bought cookware from this site (the Staub rice cooker ie adorable!) but I miss the time when this food site was about food.
Lynn D. February 5, 2024
These look like something I would like to make, but there are some major problems with the recipe.
How much water? What do you do with the fresh corn and butter? Food 52 needs to assign someone to review the recipes before they publish them.
Kathy S. February 23, 2024
I totally agree. Would love to make this recipe that includes all the ingredients listed.
Morbidi September 24, 2024
They mixed some steps. Make the dough with only the coconut water/sugar/salt and boil a large pot of water separately. When you make the little banana leaf "packages" then you put them into the boiling water for 45 minutes. It's similar to making pasteles.