Tamale Time

Last week my mom and I went to a tamale making class and had a great time. I always had this impression that tamale making took a long time and was a very difficult process. This is merely a myth. Tamales are actually quite simple, they just take a long time to steam. I'll start with the simple recipe:

Makes 5 dozen tamales

5 lbs prepared masa (this should be purchased the day you plan to make the tamales)

5 lbs of cooked meat (place meat in a crock pot and cook over night until the meat shreds easily)

1 bag of corn husks

Sauce

20 dried red California chilies

4 cloves garlic

3 tsp flour
salt to taste

To prepare the corn husks, soak overnight in a water to clean and soften the husks.

To prepare the sauce, remove the seeds from the chilies and then soak in water for about 5 minutes. After soaking, place chilies in a blender with water. Blend until no large chucks of chilies are seen. Add garlic, salt and flour. Put mixture in a sauce pan and simmer on a low heat for 10-15 minutes. Make sure you are stirring while it is simmering. Once the sauce is done cooking, add it to the shredded meat and mix. If you have any sauce left over, it can be frozen and used as enchilada sauce.

To make the tamales, take a corn husk and spread masa in it (see photo)

Put a scoop of meat on top of the masa. Fold in the sides of the corn husk and then fold up the bottom:

Once you have your tamales made, they need to be steamed for about an hour to cook them. Take a large pot and place a veggie steamer basket at the bottom. Add water to the pot until it is just barley touching the bottom of the steamer basket. Place the tamales in the basket with the open ends facing upward. Be sure to keep and eye on the water level as you're steaming. It is a good idea to keep a kettle of boiling water going so you can add water to the pot without changing the cooking temperature.

Once they are steamed you can eat them or freeze them for another time.

Now you are done and you can fan yourself for all the hard work!