During my childhood, before the modern world was part of my life, my world was only the Guna. One of my favorite dishes was the Tulemasi, which inside the Guna Gastronomy, is the emblematic dish. In your visit to Guna Yala, San Blas Panama, do not forget to taste this typical dish.
There is no official record of the origin of this dish, autochthonous of the indigenous Gunas, but it is known that it is part from its beginnings in history.
Depending on the geographical area, the ingredients may vary such as the type of fish as well as the tuber that is sown in the area.
In this article, I will teach you how to prepare this dish with the basic recipe, which can vary to your taste, and in the end, I will show you how it would be in your version Gourmet to have a delight and explosion of flavors on your palate.
TuleMasi Traditional
Ingredients
- 1/2 grated coconut
- 1 lt of water
- A green banana
- A small yucca
- Red snapper
- Salt
- chili pepper
- Lemon
Process
Take the half of grated coconut and take a piece of cloth that we will use as a filter. Pour the water over the grated coconut and filter, the result is dropped into a pot.
This coconut water will be our base for our TuleMasi. This dish is cooked in Firewood, so you do not have an exact temperature control.
Heat the water in firewood, while we clean and slice the green banana and yucca. We put the green banana slices and yucca with the coconut water and wait for reaches its boiling point.
At this point, the previously cleaned red snapper is allowed to submerge in the water until our green banana and yucca are soft, always watching that the red snapper does not exceed overcooked.
Serve hot without salt, since the diner will have to put salt to his taste accompanied with lemon and chili pepper, previously cleaned and cooked.
In Panama City we find centers of different communities of Guna Yala, where they can enjoy this dish in its traditional form. One of them is the Center of carti-sugdub located in street H, Santa Ana.
Tulemasi Gourmet Style
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut water
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- 2 cups of Fumet
- 1/4 green banana
- 1/4 Yucca
- 1/4 Yautia
- 1/4 Slimy Yam
- 3 leaves of cilantro
- 1 tbsp of Oregano
- 2 Fillet of Corvina
Process
Pour 1 cup of coconut water, 2 cups of Fumet and 2 tablespoons of fish sauce (which will give the salty touch) over medium heat.
Clean and cut into large cubes the corvina but for the case of green banana, yucca, yautia and the yam make cuts in medium cubes. Scratch a little yam to spese the soup.
Pour the yucca, yautia, green banana and yam in the mixture to high until they soften. Once this is done, pour the corvina and lower it over low heat for 5-10 min. Serve hot with salt, lemon and spicy to taste.
Before concluding, I would like to thank Chef Ismael Rodriguez, who was one of my Chef Instructor and Director of the Central American Institute of Gastronomy (INCEGA) in Cali, Colombia.
Your comment is very important to us, you able to suggest some topic of your interest for our next article regarding the Guna culture or Tourism in Panama and
Remember to follow us on our social networks.