Tamales

I make a lot of things, aprons, cake, jewelry, fun of people, but the thing is even though I grew up in Mexico, until recently I have never actually made tamales. My sister, Jesse Rose, who is an amazing, entertainer, photographer, chef and overall creative person had a Christmas Party in her tiny little apartment in San Fransisco and made tamales for her guests. She told me how great they turned out and that they were actually not that hard to make. So we decided to make them them for our Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's house. We ate every single one and wished we had made more.

I thought why not let the secret out that Tamales are really not that hard to make.

The first thing you need to do is make your meet or filling. You can use anything from pork or chicken to veggies. Anything cooked with a yummy sauce and easy enough to chew and swallow. I'm going to go with chicken for this one cause it's easy and that's the only thing I've used so far so I know it works, oh and it's cheap.

Here is my sisters some what vague chicken recipe:

rub chicken breasts or thighs w/salt (if breasts use on the bone)

brown chicken in butter put in crock she means large pan,

in same pan add 1/4 c veggie oil

1/2 c finely chopped onion and saute 3-4 min til soft 

add minced garlic (1-2 cloves) 

add 1/4 - 1/2 c red chile powder (depending on heat of chile, i use ancho or guajillo chiles cause they are sweet) I used

use a whisk if lumpy

add tomato sauce (1-2 cans)

1-2 c chicken broth 

pour over chicken put on high for 1 hr then low a few more hours. shred chicken pour some sauce so it's nice and saucy but not too saturated.

this recipe varies depending on how much chicken you use. i usually do more so there is left over chicken.

O.K. so chicken or meat done. Now we go onto making the Masa (spanish for dough) for the Tamales (spanish for tamale).
This is the part I always thought would be really complicated, but it really isn't.

For a large batch of tamales you will need :

• 6 Cups of  flour for making masa (dough). You can get this at most grocery stores or your local Mexican market. Make sure you buy the one that is specifically for tamales, it is a little more coarse than the tortilla masa.
• 5 cups of Water
• 1-2 cups Lard or vegetable shortening. I use lard cause I love lard, but a lot of you will use something else. There are a lot of choices.
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• Couple of pinches of Salt
• You will also need a package of corn husks, pick these up in the same isle you got your tamale flour, usually called the "hispanic food" isle, next to the "new age drink" isle. Seriously we had a store up here in Northern California with that title. 
 

Now onto our mixing bowl, in your largest bowl measure in your flour, then add your water 1 cup at a time, mixing while you go. You can use a large spoon if you want or use your hands. I like to use my hands, but remember to take your rings off first. You are looking for a masa that is wet and sticky, but firm. 

If your masa falls apart it's too dry add a little water until you get the right consistency. Now put this aside and move over to your hand mixer, measure your lard into a bowl bowl (I used 2 cups but you can use less for less lardy tamale). Whip the lard until it is soft and looks like very whipped cream, it took me about 5 minutes. Add the lard to your masa that you set aside. Mix until fully blended then set aside.

Your masa should now look like the picture below.

 Now we will set this aside and work on our corn husks. You'll notice that the corn husks are dry and hard, so we need to soak in very hot water to get them soft and pliable. I used a large bowl and poured boiling water to cover them. After leaving them a few minutes I pulled them apart and soaked them for another 5 or 10 minutes until they no longer look dry. Remember boiling hot water will burn your fingers, so careful. You can also give yourself a corn husk facial if you stay over the bowl.

Ok so now we are ready to assemble our tamales. Gather your masa, meat and patted try corn husks. You will also need a plate to put the wrapped tamales on. 

Hold a large corn husk in your hand with the flat edge closest to your fingers. Spread a large spoonful of masa onto the husk and spread out over the lower part of the husk. Leaving husk on both sides. It may seem thin but don't worry it will work out.

Now add a small amount of meat to the middle of the spread. 

Now fold in the sides. One side at a time. Don't worry about the masa overlapping onto the outside of the husk. 

Now fold the bottom up. You can also tear a strip of corn husk and tie around the tamale. I do this later once I have a lot done. I'm kind of an assembly line kinda girl though.

Once you have your tamales wrapped start to load them into your large pot that has been prepared with your steam basket and water in the bottom (enough water to fill all the way up to your steam basket, you will be steaming for an hour). Load in one layer with the open side of the tamale up.

Now turn up the heat (ok well actually more like bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer), cover and steam for about an hour and 15 minutes. You will notice when they are done that they are a little mushy, don't worry they will firm up. 

You can now impress your family and friends who have not read my blog and think that it is virtually impossible to make tamales. You can also offer your friends a "tamal" (pronounced in a spanish accent) and seem extremely pretentious. Good luck and have fun and don't forget to let me know how they come out or if they come out.