Growing up in Arizona has brightened my love for all foods, including Mexican foods (wish I think, hands down, is my favorite type of food; anyone who knows me knows this). Tamales were never in the house much, but I remember when my mother worked at Pepsi Cola in Arizona and would bring bags of them home from one of her employees; absolutely amazing!! It has been lost 8 years since I have had a homemade tamale (we sometimes buy them at Whole Foods Market but there is hardly in stock). I decided, what the hell?! Why not try making them myself! I set out to find the ingredients, but not just any ingredients I wanted them to be pure, non-gmo, and of good quality. I did just that! The masa I am using is from Bob's Red Mill (a big brand I completely trust), I used grass-fed organic roast (almost 8 pounds).
You Will Need:
7 lbs Organic Grass-Fed Roast
2 bags California Ancho Dried Chili's
Organic Minced Garlic
1 Medium Organic Onion
2 Organic Bay Leaves
Salt & Pepper
1/4 Cup Organic Tomato Sauce
Juice From Boiled Chili's
6 Cups Masa (Bob's Red Mill)
5-7 Cup Broth (from meat)
1 tsp Baking Powder (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp Organic Garlic Powder
3/4 Cups Organic Pork Lard
2 Packages Corn Husks
Place onion in crockpot (I cooked my meat the night before, and kept the broth as well)
Add two pay leaves per pack of meat (therefore if you have two packs of meat, add 4 bay leaves)
Place mean in crockpot, cover with water (I also added garlic)
This was cooking for half the time
Cut the tops off the chiles and along the side of the chiles
Deseed the remove the veins as well (because those bring heat too)
So pretty
Shred the meat when it is fully cooked (I placed my meat in the fridge until next day)
Soak the corn husks for up to 2 hours
Add chiles to a stockpot, cover with water and bring to a boil continue cooking until they are soft
This is what I used for the sauce, tomato sauce (home canned), salt, and garlic
Place tomato sauce, garlic in blender (I used my vitamix)
Salt (about 2 tsp) taste to adjust
Add the chiles and about 1 cup of the water from the chiles
Blend on high until smooth, you may need more water
Taste for salt and spice
Heat the over in a pan, over medium heat cook to heat throughly, while heating, start your 'dough'
I trust this brand masa!
I needed to make double the sauce, since I made double meat than I had originally planned
For the 'dough' start by melting your lard (I found this at whole foods market)
Place lard in a stock pot over medium heat until fully melted
Melted, check!
Adding baking powder, salt, garlic powder and any other seasoning you want to the masa, mix well before adding the melted lard
Mix with a fork
I switched to my hand mixer and started adding my broth, 4 cups to start, add more if too dry
The texture you want is almost like peanut butter, smooth, and spreadable but not sticky
My assembly line! Woo HOO!
Take your husk (these need to be removed and dried before using them), and spread your masa on the husks, holding it with the top away from you, and the wider end towards you
Spread half way up the husk
Add meat in middle
Fold left side in, then right side in, and tuck the top under (away from the seams, leave the seams on the top and tuck behind- this will leave both ends closed)
Um.. I think a certain dog thinks she is going to get one!!
Tuck UNDER not over top (can we just admire this darn pug! Marleigh Marie is too funny)
Done, continue with the rest I ended up making a second batch of masa and making 70 tamales
In a double broiler, place corn husks on the bottom, fill with water (NOT TOUCHING the tamales) and place the folded tamales opened end facing up in the pot (like pictured, sorry Kailee took this picture)
Place a wet cloth (making sure you have never used this cloth with bleach (I just used new)) over the tamales and place two pennies in the bottom of the pot
Steam for 1 hour to 1 hour 40 minutes. Check after 1 hour to see if the dough pulls from the husks without sticking (this made 70 plus tamales)
These were seriously delicious! Show stopper!!
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