A couple of weeks ago, I made a tamale pie, which was basically slow cooked, Mexican-flavored, shredded pork with a baked cornbread topping. It was pretty good, but no tamale.
So after I finally found corn husks and masa, I was ready to go.
Firstly, the chili sauce. I used this recipe but went all
The pork is just simmered with veggies and spices until it's tender enough to shred. I strained the broth and saved it. The recipe I used is this one and there's a fun Tamale Making 101 class as well.
Doesn't the broth look like blood in my jack-o-lantern bowl? I used some of the chili sauce in the braising liquid for the pork and it turned the broth red. When the pork was tender, I shredded it and added some of the chili sauce. Time to soak the corn husks and make the masa.
The masa is mixed with the braising broth, smeared on a corn husk and then you can add whatever filling you like. I saw one lady using beans and cheese, which sounds delicious.
Here are all the bundles tied up and ready to steam. My steamer is small, so I had to steam them in batches. I was able to sample them before dinner just in case they were awful. They were okay, but kind of a lot of work. I'd definitely prefer the bean and cheese filling next time. The masa part was delicious. That was the part I didn't think I'd care for.
I served the tamales with more of the chili sauce, salsa, cheddar cheese and sour cream. Next time I serve them, I'll make a red enchilada sauce to pour on them. My side dish was a Mexican vegetable soup, just in case the tamales were a bust. There were enough tamales leftover to freeze for a second meal. I cut the recipe in half by the way. It must make tons of them. Making tamales is now out of my system. Now I need to figure out what to do with all those leftover corn husks...
Corn husk dolls borrowed from the Glitter Gone Bad blog. |
sounds yummy but waaaay too much work. the masa is always the part of the tamale that I don't like. Then again, I've never had a tamale that I LOVED. love the jack o' bowl!!!
ReplyDeletethey look so good! So was it worth all the work? I've often thought about making them but it looks like such a process!
ReplyDeleteI'm from Panama, and they make the real tamales all the time. I've never wanted one though, and I still don't. Glad you were able to get it out of your system though.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of Panamanian dishes I love. Maybe I can send you a few recipes and you'll make them for me? LOL
Wish I liked to cook.