Real Homemade Tamales
My mom made tamales by grinding up a leftover roast with onions. She then make the tamale dough and rolled them in parchment paper instead of the corn husks. You can also substitute shredded chicken. I like mine topped with ketchup! See below for additional toppings.
Dovetailing tip: Use leftover Chili Verde from Meal 2 to top tamales.
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
| Tamale Filling: | |
| 1 | large onion, chopped |
| 1 clove | garlic, minced |
| 4 | dried california chile pods |
| 1 1/2 teaspoons | salt |
| 2 cups | water |
| 1 1/4 pounds | pork loin or roast beef |
| Tamale Dough: | |
| 2 cups | masa harina |
| 3 tablespoons | or more, reserved meat drippings |
| 1 teaspoon | baking powder |
| 1/2 teaspoon | salt |
| 2/3 cup | lard (don't substitute for best flavor) |
| 1 (8-ounce) package | dried corn husks |
| 1 cup | sour cream |
Directions:
Place pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic.
Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles, onion garlic, and salt in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Simmer for 20 minutes, then allow to cool for 10 minutes. Transfer the chili mixture, without draining, to a blender and blend until smooth. Place the meat into a cooking pot and pour the chili sauce over the meat. If needed, add another cup of water to cover the meat.
Bring to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat and simmer 2-4 hours, until meat is tender. Remove the meat from the sauce (do not discard sauce) Shred the cooked meat and mix in one cup of the leftover meat juice.
Soak the corn husks in a bowl of boiling water. In a large bowl, beat the lard with a tablespoon of the meat juices until fluffy. Combine the masa harina, baking powder and salt; stir into the lard mixture, adding more meat juices as necessary to form a spongy dough.
Spread the dough out over the corn husks to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Place one tablespoon of the meat filling into the center. Fold the sides of the husks in toward the center and place in a steamer. Steam for 1 hour.
Remove tamales from husks and drizzle remaining chile sauce over. Top with sour cream. For a creamy sauce, mix sour cream into the chile sauce.
Optional toppings: ketchup, salsa, chopped avocados, chili verde
Revised from Source: allrecipes.com
