21 December 2010

8th Day of Christmas

Every year in my family we eat tamales on Christmas Eve. It's a tradition in mexico and somehow we picked it up... probably since we're pretty close to the border. Some years we buy them, but for the past several years my Dad and I have made them together. It can be a lot of work but I think it's totally worth it!

We always make some pork tamales and some green chili and cheese tamales. They are both delicious.

My dad always makes the pork so I'm unsure of the recipe, but I think it comes with the tamale making kit you can buy near the bags of dried chilis in a supermarket. Or, you can use one of these recipes.
You will need the prepared pork filling, a large can of whole green chilies, a large block of cheddar cheese, some masa, some lard or butter, and some dried corn husks.

The masa is prepared by mixing it with some lard or butter. There should be a recipe on the masa bag.
Cut the cheese into 4 inch long cm wide blocks. I cut 24.
Soak the corn husks in water to loosen them up.
Tear the chilies into strips- about 4 strips per chilie
 To assemble, take one of the corn husks and spread about 1/4-1/3 cup of masa on the larger end. What you see in the next picture is a little thin- you would probably want a bit more masa.
Put your filling on the masa- for the vegetarian ones, I layered a strip of chili, then a chunk of cheese, then another chili.

Roll up the tamale and then tuck the end over the keep it secure.

Steam upright (open ends up) in a large steamer for about 45-60 min. serve immediately with salsa and refriend beans or freeze/refrigerate and reheat by re-steaming or refridgerating.
delicious! I'll try to post a pic of the finished product and our dinner on christmas eve. happy tuesday lovelies!
<3

No comments:

Post a Comment