Tamales

 

Basic tamales dough (for "salty" fillings)

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour for tamales

1 ½ tsp of salt

1 Tbsp of baking powder 

3 cups of water (I prefer chicken broth) 

1 cup of pork lard (I use organic vegetable shortening instead)

Instructions:

Mix lard on mixer at medium speed to add air, about 5 to 10 minutes until it looks white and fluffy, in the meantime, mix dry ingredients, when lard is ready, reduce speed and add flour mix a bit at the time, when fully incorporated, add water or broth a bit of the time, add more liquid if necessary, dough consistency should be creamy,  like soft peanutbutter,  easy to spread, you know your dough is ready when it doesn't stick to your fingers, if necessary add more lard to achieve this.

TAMALES FILLING:

You can fill tamales  with literally anything you like, here is 3 options.

CHICKEN:

Ingredients:

1 Chicken breast halves cooked (I cooked mine in water with salt, pepper, a piece of onion, 1 garlic clove and a bay leaf )

1 cup small Diced carrots

1 cup small Diced potatoes 

½ onion

3 tomatoes

2 garlic cloves 

1  big or 2 small chile guajillo (optional)

1 Tbsp olive oil divided 

¾ water or chicken broth 

salt and pepper 

In some olive oil, caramelize onion and garlic, add tomatoes in halves, if using chile guajillo, remove seeds and cook in water, letting it boil for about 10 minutes, let it rest in the hot water until softened. Blend everything with the water or broth to create  a sauce, season with salt and pepper or any of your prefer seasonings. Reserve.

With the rest of the oil, slightly caramelized carrots and potatoes (don't  worry if vegetables  aren't fully cook, they can finish cooking in the tamal), add chicken, add salsa adjust seasoning.

PORK IN GREEN TOMARILLO SAUCE:

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless pork cut

½ to ¾ lb of green tomatillos

1 small onion divided

4 garlic cloves divided 

5 whole peppercorns 

1 bay leaf 

1 small serrano or jalapeño pepper (optional)

salt and pepper

Olive oil

¾ cup water or chicken broth 

Cook pork in big chunks in about 4 cups of water with half of onion, 2 garlic cloves,  peppercorns, bay leaf and salt until pork is very soft (about 40 minutes).

In the mean time, caramelize in olive oil the rest of the onion and garlic cloves, add peeled tomatillos (in hald if they are too big), add serrano or jalapeno. Blend everything on water or broth and season with salt and pepper.

Cook sauce in a little olive oil, and shredded pork, adjust seasoning if necessary.

POBLANO PEPPER STRIPS AND CHEESE 

Ingredients:

2 poblano peppers 

strips of cheese (panela, queso fresco or fresh mozzarella could be some good cheese options).

Blacken whole poblano peppers in a skillet all sides, remove  from heat and immediately wrap them in a plastic bag let them "sweat" for about 30 minutes, use gloves, remove all the skin, seeds and if prefer without heat, also remove veins. cut in small strips.

PUTTING TAMALES TOGETHER 

Soak corn husks on warm water  overnight (ideally), or soak in boiling water (turn heat off) for about 30 min cover.

with the help of a spatula or spoon, spread dough in the soft part of the husk about ⅔ of the husk, add filling in the middle fold husk in,  put all tamales standing up in the steamer making sure water  doesn't touch tamales, cookin medium heat about 1 hour.

Note: If using a small steamer, make sure you don't run out of water.

For the poblano pepper and cheese, I usually put  about 2 strips of pepper and 1 of cheese.