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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 120 Minutes |
Ready In: 120 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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You can fill tamales with anything. Here, I've provided a chicken in guajillo filling, but use your imagination. The guajillo is one of my favorite chiles. Its flavor is bright and sweet, almost tomato-ey. However, the guajillo is a thick-skinned chile, and unlike, say, the ancho, you must strain the puree. Read more . Poach a few chicken breasts and finely chop them, and moisten them with mole. Use anchos or pasillas instead of guajillos. Have fun. Just make sure your filling is very finely diced. Tamales aren't nearly as much of a pain as most think, and they're even fun to make. Of all the cooking classes I taught in Indiana, the tamale party class was the most popular. Once you get the hang of it, you can fly, and have the pot full of tamales in no time. Tamales are tender and delicious, always a people pleaser, and fun to eat. The most popular class I taught was the tamale party. Everybody had a great deal of fun first making them, then eating them. You'll need corn husks — Mexican groceries carry large ones, and they're easier to work with, if you can find them. You'll need a large pot, a rack to just fit inside, and a small bowl to sit the rack on, or a huge steamer, if you have one. Ingredients:
chicken in guajillo sauce filling |
4 ounces guajillo chiles |
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled |
1 t. each: cumin seeds, oregano |
1/2 t. black peppercorns |
2 1/2 c. chicken stock |
2 t. oil |
salt to taste. |
2 chicken breasts, poached, boned, and finely minced |
tamales |
1/2 large package corn husks (you may need the whole package if all you can get are the small ones) |
2/3 c. chilled lard (yes, i said lard, but if you must, you can use crisco — which makes you wet your pants more, animal fat or transfat, cause you have to use one or the other) |
1 t. baking powder |
1 3/4 c. dried masa harina for tamales (neither corn meal nor corn flour is a substitute and masa harina for tortillas works, but not nearly as well!) |
1 c. hot water |
1 c. chicken stock, room temperature |
Directions:
1. First make the filling.
2. Very briefly toast chiles in a skillet over high heat, just until the color lightens a bit and you can smell them. Do NOT overdo this! Toast garlic cloves until soft and skin is charred. Remove and peel. Cover chiles with boiling water and soak for 20 minutes. Drain. Stem chiles and drain excess water from them. Process with the garlic and about 1/2 - 3/4 c. of the chicken stock into a smooth puree. Strain through a food mill (easiest) or a strainer (a pain). Heat oil in the skillet until quite hot. Add puree, and stir constantly over medium-high heat until the puree thickens and darkens. Add the remaining stock, and simmer until the consistency of cream. Mix with the minced chicken.
3. Now, make the tamales:
4. Cover the husks with boiling water, put a bowl on top to keep them submerged, and soak for an hour until soft. Drain.
5. If you don't have a great big steamer, put the small bowl in the bottom of the stock pot. Add water till about a half-inch below the top of the bowl (and make sure you fill the bowl with water, or it will float and won't work). Place the rack on top of the bowl, and line the rack with corn husks to keep the water from splattering the tamales.
6. Prepare the dough. Thoroughly mix the masa with the hot water and let it cool. Beat the lard and baking powder until fluffy. Add the cooled masa in fourths, beating each in thoroughly. Add 1/2 c. of the stock, and beat for a couple of mintes, then test. When you add a bit to a glass of water, it should float. If it doesn't, beat a couple more minutes. Add enough additional stock so that it is the consistency of thick cake batter — it must hold its shape, but it also must be soft and moist. Salt to taste, then refrigerate for an hour. Beat again, adding enough additional stock to bring it to the correct consistency; this ensures the lightest tamales. Again, taste, and salt if needed.
7. Make the tamales. This is NOT hard. Hold a large corn husk in your hand (you'll need to overlap two, if you're using the small ones). With a soup spoon, sling a couple of spoonfuls of the batter onto the husk. Smoosh it out to roughly a 3-4 inch square (you don't have to be really anal about this). Put a spoonful of the filling on the center, then using both your hands, fold the sides of the husk around the tamale and roll. Fold up the near end and tie it off with a strip of corn husk, then put the tamale, tied end down, on the husk lined rack. Repeat until all the batter is gone.
8. Cover the tamales with the remaining husks, again to keep out any water, and cover. Bring to a boil, then steam for 1 1/2 - 2 hours over medium low heat. If you used molé as a filling, you can heat some and serve it along with the tamales, but tamales need no additional sauce.
9. I promise that after you make your own, you'll never eat those nasty things out of a can or jar again.
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