I decided to resurrect my blog to post my awesome Tamale-making adventure! First, let me say that the inspiration for taking on this bold task came from wanting to use my new Kitchen Aid professional stand mixer. I've wanted one for years and now I finally have one!
OK, so I know you're thinking, has Sou lost her mind? She's ASIAN! Ha, no I haven't. If you know me, you know that I was raised in Santa Ana almost my entire life. Population of Hispanics in Santa Ana is probably about 70%. You know that where there's a lot of Mexicans, there's also a lot of delicious Mexican food. I grew up eating tons of it and now as an adult, I still continue to eat it religiously.
So this why I NEEDED to make Tamales:
1) I love Mexican food
2) I am from Santa Ana
3) It's Christmas time
Add 1+2+3 = Reason 4
4) Since I am from Santa Ana and I love Mexican food and it's Christmas time, we will have tamales every Christmas! AWESOME, right?
Nevermind. TAMALADA (Tamale-making party) TIME!
Invited Guests: NONE
Guests who invited themselves: My mom (who desperately tried to take over) and Maddie (who narrated every step she took and wasted about 10 good corn husks)
After searching http://www.google.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/ (I even watched it in Spanish hoping to get more authentic recipes), http://www.foodnetwork.com/, and getting advice from others, I decided to incorporate different recipes and advice to make my own! Before telling you how I made them, let me say that they turned out DELICIOUS. I was deathly afraid the tamale dough would turn out heavy and dense rather than fluffy and light. I was wrong. They are seriously pretty authentic tasting! My mom is going to take them to work for some of her Mexican coworkers for the official taste test!
So here's a step-by-step on how I made these delicious treats:
1) I went to a local carniceria called El Toro to buy the ingredients. Don't go on a Friday night. It was so busy. When I arrived, there was a DJ in the parking lot blasting some ranchero music. Yep, I was in the perfect spot where I'd find exactly what I needed.
No one spoke English so I knew I had to dig deep to try to remember something from Spanish 101. "Yo necesito ummm res y porque para hacer los tamales."
I see the butcher turn to another guy and say something. The only thing I could comprehend was "La Chinita se hable espanol."
So I interjected and said," Si, mi amigo, yo hablo espanol. Me allude?"
The guy responded in English. Sounded like he wanted to practice that too. So we continued our conversation. Him in English, me in Spanish. I told him I needed Masa Preparada. He directed me next door, which was a little place where they had the prepared meat and sold fresh, warm masa. I came back to my friend after I got the masa and bought the rest of my ingredients:
1 bag of Corn husks
2 lbs. Queso Casero
4 ounces California chiles
2 Ounces Pacilla (i think that's what they were called) chiles
6 lbs of masa preparada (Note: this already has lard and salt in it. If you are a vegetarian, go for the masa sin preparada and use vegetable shortening instead. I went with the intention of getting the latter but the manager talked me into getting the prepared one.)
4 ounces premade green salsa
1 package menudo mix
1 garlic clove
1 large onion
2 lbs pork loin
2 lbs beef chuck
2) Boil meat with 2 tablespoons of menudo mix and chopped onions. SLOW AND LOW (about two hours) until meat is tender so it's shreaddable like this:
3) Soak corn husks in water for two hours until they become soft. In another bowl, soak your chiles in water for 30 minutes. . Remove the seeds and stems. Place the chile membranes in blender with two cups of the broth from the meat. Blend until it becomes a sauce like this:
3) Mix meat and sauce
This is where part one of my party ended. It was too late to start preparing the masa and wrapping them.
4) Prepare your tamale dough. Although I purchased masa preparada, it still needed more whipping because it didn't pass the cup test. Roll about 1/2 teaspoon of your masa and drop it into cup of cold water. If it doesn't float, it isn't the right consistency. Your tamales will be hard! Continue to whip it until the ball floats.
YAY, time to use my mixer!
Before adding a stick of butter and 2 cups of broth:
After 10 minutes of whipping, testing, whipping, testing: here's what it should look like - sorta like spackle!
See, it floats so it's ready!
5) My tamales are ready to be assembled!
6) Spread your masa evenly on the soft side of the corn husk. Note: this is a bad picture. This was the first one I did. Way too much masa.
7) Add Meat
8) Fold and repeat steps 7 and 8 over and over and over and over. Place in steamer like this:
9) Steam for two hours. After an hour or so, you'll probably need to add water to the steamer. Do not be tempted to pull one out and start eating one like I did. That steam is HOT! When they're done, the husks will pull off the tamale very easily. Just to make sure they're extra good, I ate three. One of each - one pork, one beef, and one cheese.
10) They're done. Serve with a Corona!
Here's my perfect little tamale:
Even though I call it my perfect little tamale, there is always room for improvement. Here's a couple of things I would do differently next time:
1) Buy Masa Sin Preparada. They were a bit too greasy. I think I'll control the amount of manteca (lard) that goes in rather than buy it pre-larded. The extra stick of butter I added probably didn't help but the flavor was excellent. I just don't want to have a heart-attack before I turn 30.
2) Ratio of Masa to Meat not right. I hate eating tamales that is mostly dough and not enough meat so I added more meat than you see in normal tamales...maybe too much.
Anyways, hope this has inspired you to have a tamalada of your own!
