Fresh

Melody’s favorite cultural traditions are the ones that involve food. Oh yeah! I love melody and food, culture and tradition too. Let’s see now. In this interview we are linked to she mentions things she likes to eat so let’s try the Tamales. What? Why Tamales? Well, they’re delicious for one thing and for another, I have to practice making them because someday, when I’m famous too, she will come and eat with me. It’s gonna happen. I’m working on it. Just you wait and see.

Thanks to Raisins for this image

Thanks to all recipes for this recipe

Tamales

Tamale Filling:

• 1 1/4 pounds of pork loin
• 1 large onion, halved
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 dried California chile pods
• 2 cups of water
• 1 11/2 teaspoons of salt

Tamale Dough:

• 2 cups of masa harina
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can of beef broth
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cups of lard
• 1 (8 ounce) package of dried corn husks
• 1 cup of sour cream

Directions:

1. Place the pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the meat is cooked through, about two hours.
2. Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with two cups of water. Simmer, uncovered for twenty minutes, then remove from heat to cool. Transfer the chiles and water to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture, stir in salt and set aside. Shred the cooked meat and mix in one cup of the chile sauce.
3. Soak the corn husks in a bowl of warm water. In a large bowl, beat the lard with a tablespoon of the broth until fluffy. Combine the masa harina, baking powder and salt; stir into the lard mixture, adding more broth as necessary to form a spongy dough.
4. 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 one hour.
5. 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.

Note:

If you need more detailed help with Tamales you can go to Fabulous Features, they have a step by step with lots of images to show you the way.

Posted on June 10th, 2008 by Ruth
Filed under: Ruth's Take