Guess what!
Recently I was honored with the position of The Daring Cooks hostess!! Woohoo!!!
I had such a great time. I loved seeing the creativity amongst these Daring Cooks. The fillings were to die for and just looking at the different types of tamales made me hungry all over again.
Now it's time for me to share with you. Here is my post (I'll warn you now it's very detailed and picture heavy):
I am a stay at home mommy to 2 kiddos and an Army Brat turned Army Wife. My husband and I met in El Paso, Texas, which is right on the border of Mexico and New Mexico. Needless to say, Mexican food is at your fingertips throughout the city and beyond.
I LOVE Mexican food. There is something about tacos, enchiladas, green chiles and tamales that really do it for me. When my husband and I moved to Upstate New York we found that our beloved Mexican food was hard to come by. We met a similar culinary devastation when we moved to the Middle of Nowhere Missouri as well.
Luckily, we were able to find a small place in Upstate New York that had decent Mexican food. I was also able to find a lady selling tamales at the Farmer’s Market in Missouri.
One of our family traditions is to celebrate the new year with delicious tamales. Since the Army keeps moving us to places where tamales are difficult to find, I thought it was high time to learn how to make them myself. And since I hate to do things by myself, I figured that I would challenge you to hone your tamale making skills with me!
Tamales can be traced back as far 5000 B.C. Tamale making is usually a social event with the women in Hispanic families gathering together to spend an afternoon making dozens and dozens of tamales.
Tamales are made up of a masa (dough) usually made from a corn base and a filling. These are wrapped in corn husks, a large leaf, or some other wrapping and steamed to cook. The wrapper is discarded before eating.
Tamales are not so much about the food but about the memories created when making and eating them. So gather some friends and family together and get to making some tamales! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
Place the dried corn husks in a large pot and cover with water.
Place a heavy plate or a smaller pot full of water on top of husks to keep them in the water. Let soak for 3 hours or up to 1 day, flipping occasionally until husks are softened.
Once husks are softened, boil chicken about 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
Immediately place hot chicken into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer on high to shred chicken (this takes about 3-5 seconds).
Place an oven rack on the top setting. Turn the oven on broil. Peel and rinse the tomatillos.
Line a heavy baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos on baking sheet and place under broiler.
Broil (grill) until black spots form on tomatillos, then flip and broil (grill) other side. This takes about 5-10 minutes per side depending on the strength of the broiler.
Place roasted tomatillos and juices from the pan into a food processor and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and chopped Serrano chiles and process until smooth.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
Add the tomatillo puree and boil, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes (it should turn thick like a paste).
Add in the chicken broth, stir to mix well. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture coats the back of a spoon and is reduced to about a cup.
Stir in the chicken and cilantro. Salt to taste.
Prepare the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high heat, cream together the lard or vegetable shortening, baking powder and salt.
Mix in the masa harina, one cup at a time.
Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add in 1 ½ cups of the chicken broth.
If the mixture seems too thick (you can taste it for moistness) add up to ½ cup more of the broth 2 tablespoons at a time. (The dough should be a cookie dough like texture).
Take 3 large corn husks and tear them into ¼ inch strips. (I would suggest you put these back in the water until use because they dry out and start breaking when you try to work with them.
Take a large pot with a steamer attachment. Pour about 2 inches of water into the bottom of the pot, or enough to touch the bottom of the steamer. Line the bottom of the steamer with corn husks.
Unfold 2 corn husks onto a work surface. Take ¼ cup of dough and, starting near the top of the husk, press it out into a 4 inch square, leaving 2-3 inches at the bottom of the husk. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in a line down the center of the dough square.
Fold the dough into the corn husk.
And wrap the husk around the dough.
Fold up the skinny bottom part of the husk.
And secure it with one of the corn husk ties.
Stand them up in the steamer. If there aren’t enough tamales to tightly pack the steamer, place crumpled aluminum foil in the excess space.
Steam the tamales for about 40 minutes or until the dough deepens in color and easily pulls away from the husk.
For the black bean tamales: Follow the directions from the above recipe for soaking the corn husks.
Make the filling. Combine all ingredients for the filling in a medium mixing bowl.
Make the masa dough. Combine the olive oil, salt and masa mix in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until combined.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add 2 cups of vegetable broth. If the mixture seems to dry (you can taste it for moistness at this point) add more broth 2 tablespoons at a time.
Follow the directions in the above recipe for filling and cooking instructions.
Serve and enjoy!!!!!!
Green Chile Chicken Tamales
Ingredients:
1 – 8 ounce (225 gram) package dried corn husks (If you cannot find corn husks, you can use parchment paper or plastic wrap.)
For filling:
- 1 pound tomatillos (can sub mild green chilies – canned or fresh)
- 4 – 3 inch serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped (can sub jalapeno)
- 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups cooked and shredded chicken
- 2/3 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro (also known as coriander)
For the masa dough:
- 1 1/3 cups lard or vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt (omit if already in masa mixture)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (omit if already in masa mixture)
- 4 cups masa harina (corn tortilla mix), I used instant masa mix
- 1 ½-2 cups low sodium chicken broth
Directions:
- Place the dried corn husks in a large pot and cover with water.
- Place a heavy plate or a smaller pot full of water on top of husks to keep them in the water. Let soak for 3 hours or up to 1 day, flipping occasionally until husks are softened.
- Once husks are softened, boil chicken about 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
- Immediately place hot chicken into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer on high to shred chicken (this takes about 3-5 seconds).
- Place an oven rack on the top setting. Turn the oven on broil. Peel and rinse the tomatillos.
- Line a heavy baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos on baking sheet and place under broiler.
- Broil (grill) until black spots form on tomatillos, then flip and broil (grill) other side. This takes about 5-10 minutes per side depending on the strength of the broiler.
- Place roasted tomatillos and juices from the pan into a food processor and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and chopped Serrano chiles and process until smooth.
- Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
- Add the tomatillo puree and boil, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes (it should turn thick like a paste).
- Add in the chicken broth, stir to mix well. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture coats the back of a spoon and is reduced to about a cup.
- Stir in the chicken and cilantro. Salt to taste.
- Prepare the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high heat, cream together the lard or vegetable shortening, baking powder and salt.
- Prepare the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high heat, cream together the lard or vegetable shortening, baking powder and salt.
- Mix in the masa harina, one cup at a time.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add in 1 ½ cups of the chicken broth.
- If the mixture seems too thick (you can taste it for moistness) add up to ½ cup more of the broth 2 tablespoons at a time. (The dough should be a cookie dough like texture).
- Take 3 large corn husks and tear them into ¼ inch strips. (I would suggest you put these back in the water until use because they dry out and start breaking when you try to work with them.
- Take a large pot with a steamer attachment. Pour about 2 inches of water into the bottom of the pot, or enough to touch the bottom of the steamer. Line the bottom of the steamer with corn husks.
- Unfold 2 corn husks onto a work surface. Take ¼ cup of dough and, starting near the top of the husk, press it out into a 4 inch square, leaving 2-3 inches at the bottom of the husk. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in a line down the center of the dough square.
- Fold the dough into the corn husk.
- And wrap the husk around the dough.
- Fold up the skinny bottom part of the husk.
- And secure it with one of the corn husk ties.
- Stand them up in the steamer. If there aren’t enough tamales to tightly pack the steamer, place crumpled aluminum foil in the excess space.
- Steam the tamales for about 40 minutes or until the dough deepens in color and easily pulls away from the husk.
- Serve and enjoy!!
Vegan Black Bean and Green Chile Tamales
Ingredients:
1 – 8 ounce (225 grams) bag dried corn husks
For the filling:
- 1 – 15.5 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 – 14 ounce can diced tomato with green chiles, drained
- 1 – 10 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
For the masa dough:
- 4 cups masa harina (corn tortilla mix), I used instant masa mix
- 2 ½-3 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Follow the directions from the above recipe for soaking the corn husks.
- Make the filling. Combine all ingredients for the filling in a medium mixing bowl.
- Make the masa dough. Combine the olive oil, salt and masa mix in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until combined.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add 2 cups (480 ml) of vegetable broth. If the mixture seems to dry (you can taste it for moistness at this point) add more broth 2 tablespoons (30 ml) at a time.
- Follow the directions in the above recipe for filling and cooking instructions.
- Serve and enjoy!!
