Chuchitos (Guatemala)

2 lbs "Quaker brand" corn masa (corn tortilla flour)
2 lbs chicken or meat of choice
1/2 lb butter
Salt to taste
Chicken broth for the masa mix

For the sauce:

15 tomatoes
2 oz. miltomate
2 onions, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 soaked bread
4 whole cloves
2 guaque chiles
1 pimiento chile
4 oz pumpkin seeds
2 oz sesame seeds
1 cinnamon stick
Achiote, salt, and pepper to taste
2 large manojos de dobladores (corn husks)

Note: Any exotic ingredients above can be found in any Latin grocery store

Soak and rinse the corn husks in lukewarm water. Set aside.

Mix the masa with the butter and a little chicken broth until it is like a paste but not too wet. This will be the dough for the chuchitos. Season to taste.
For the sauce, blend the tomato, miltomato, onion, garlic, chiles into a puree.
Toast the pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, and cloves in a pan under medium-low heat. Do not allow to burn. Add this mixture along with the soaked bread to the sauce. Blend and then pass through the colander. Season to taste. Sautee the sauce in a tbsp of hot butter, and add the chicken.

Select the larger corn husks and dry them off. Tear off long strips from the smaller husks to use as the strings to tie the chuchitos.
Take a large husk and place in the middle a tbsp of the masa. Spread it out over the husk like a tortilla. Place in the center of the masa a piece of the chicken with some sauce and fold up the husk to enclose. Tie with the strings you made from the husks.
To cook, place the chuchuitos in a pan that has a steamer at the bottom so the water does not cover the chuchitos. Cover the chuchitos with a couple husks and the lid of the pan. Allow to steam cook for about 1 1/2 hours on lower heat.

Yield: about 50 chuchitos

YUM!