Christmas Tamal Time

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This recipe is fun to do and by tackling this recipe you will learn to make a tamal that will turn out delicious and impressive. If you have never made tamales, this is a low risk dish with a high reward for acquiring a new experience in Mexican cooking and you will earn high praises for presentation and taste in your next party, guaranteed. 

Making this tamal requires no cooking if you choose to use canned dice green chile, though I prefer roasting fresh poblanos.  You can make this a vegan version by using masa harina and crisco or olive oil in the masa.  For this recipe I bought “masa preparada“, prepared for tamales.

Cooking tamales is simple, just steam them fresh or frozen. Uncooked tamales can be frozen and retained in the freezer for months and taste the same as the day you made them. Be sure to ask for masa for tamales.

 

 

Ingredients

Makes 30 tamales

30+ unbroken and wide hojas (corn husk)

2 lbs masa for tamales 

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

12 oz package frozen corn kernels  (petite size preferred)

Salt

4 medium size poblano chiles

1 lb grated Monterey Jack cheese

 

 

 

Preparation

Hojas

Separate each hoja, throughly rise with water, and place in a large bowl.  Cover with water for a minimum of 30 minutes so they are no longer stiff but pliable. Hojas have a smooth side and a rough side.  If you run your finger nail across the hojas you will feel the difference.

 

 

Poblano Filling

Rinse the chiles and place them on a baking tray then set the tray 6 to 10 inches under the broiler flame.  Roast for 5-6 minutes until the chile is uniformly blistered, rotate and broil all the remaining sides for 4-6 minutes or until all sides are uniformly blistered.  Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes then place them in a plastic bag so they can steam and soften. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skin.   Remove stems, seeds and chop to ¼ inch size. Set aside.

 

 

Masa

In most large western US cities, masa can be purchased from Mexican grocery stores. If not, use commercially sold masa harina which is dry corn flour. It’s commonly stocked in your supermarket and follow the instructions to make the masa.  Ensure the consistency is easily spreadable like peanut butter.  If necessary add broth.  I like mixing the kernels of corn into the masa for presentation purposes. Alternatively, you add a heaping teaspoon of kernels individually to each tamal along with the other filling ingredients. 

 

 

Assembling your Tamal

Masa in placed on the smooth side of the hoja Run your finger nail across the hoja to identify the smooth side of the hoja. 

I prefer to set the hoja on my hand because it gives me more control in spreading the masa..Lay the hoja flat on the palm of your hand, or on a flat surface with the narrow end (top) of the hoja pointing away from you.

Lay a heaping spoonful of masa, about 2 to 3 tablespoons, in the center of the wider-half of the hoja (bottom). With the back of the spoon spread the masa left and right about a quarter inch thick, leaving a slight border around the edges. 

For the filling, place a teaspoon of poblano chile in the center of the masa, then sprinkle about the same amount of graded cheese over the chile.  If you haven’t mixed in the kernels into the masa, sprinkle in about a tablespoon of corn kernels.  Fold both sides (long sides) of the hoja over the filling, then fold the bottom of the hoja. You can store tamales for a day prior to cooking or you can freeze them uncooked for months.

 

Cooking Tamales

Tamales are always cooked in steam.  Never use a microwave to cook tamales; microwave only for reheating after they’re cooked. Lay the tamales in any steamer and simmer and cook covered for 35 to 45 minutes from the time the water boils.  Tamales should be steamed an additional 15 minutes if frozen.  A tamal is cooked when it can easily roll off the hoja.

 

 

Note

The singular use of the word is “tamal”, the plural is “tamales”.

Tamales taste best when cooked just before serving so prepare them ahead of time.  Our family prepares tamales sometimes months before Christmas then we serve them on Christmas Eve.  No stress when making tamales for 20 people.

Buen provecho.

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