Tamales

This year we were by ourselves for Christmas so we decided to try our hands at making tamales!  They turned out really well, so here are the recipes!

Masa Dough (found from chowhound.com)  Makes 30-40 tamales

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups masa harina (plus more to add if needed)
3 3/4 cups cold water
1 1/2 vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon salt

1. Combine masa harina and water in a large bowl and mix with your hands until ingredients are evenly incorporated and dough is moist throughout; set aside.
2. Combine lard or shortening and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on high speed until shiny and white in color, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium high and add dough in handfuls, letting it mix in before adding more, until all the dough has been added, about 2 minutes. Continue beating until ingredients are well combined and a smooth, soft dough has formed, about 1 minute more.
3. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before.

**Once you are ready to start using this, you might notice that your mixture is too wet to spread evenly, we took it upon ourselves to just add more masa in until it wasn't stick and it worked and cooked perfectly!


The fillings really are up to your and your taste.  We used what we had on hand and just added until the consistency worked for us.

Pork Filling:
Shredded Pork
Enchilada Sauce (homemade)

Cook the pork and then shred.  Pour over enchilada sauce and let sit for at least an hour for flavors to meld. 


Chicken Filling:
Shredded Chicken
Cream Cheese (at room temperature)
Taco Seasoning
Rotel

Mix together adding the rotel as you feel is needed for spice.  Let flavors develop for at least an hour before filling the tamales.


Making the Tamales:

This was the part that we thought would be the hardest part, and it wasn't! Which we were thankful for!

You will need corn husks.  This is one thing that we noticed some stores only carry at certain times of the year.  Walmart for example only carries during Thanksgiving time.  We were able to find some at a local grocery store in the spice isle, and we are assuming that Hispanic markets probably carry them year round. 

Corn husks need to be soaked in water for a few hours before they are ready to use.  You can use a large bowl or the kitchen sink.  Make sure you weigh them down. 

Start with a pliable corn husk and find the smooth side.  Then  spread 1/4 cup of the masa dough evenly on the wide side of the corn husk.  Fill will your stuffing (1-2 Tablespoons) and then roll.  Wrap the bottom end up and then place in a steaming basket.

When you are done assembling the tamales, you will need to steam them for 90 minutes.  They are done once the corn husks easily comes off the tamale.