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Wrapped Costa Rican tamales ready to eat, served on banana leaves in a crock pot. Tamales are made of a corn based dough filled with baked pork legs, carrots sticks, potatoes, onions, red belt peppers, green peas and green olives wrapped in a banana leaf and tight with a string. Then, boiled for 2 hours. Their texture is soft and firm. They are made, cooked, and sold as a pair, called a piña, tied together with string. Tamales are a traditional Costa Rica Christmas specialty, but many tipico restaurants serve them year round for the tourists. The wrapping is discarded before eating.