Mishell's Tamales

By á-29897

Ingredients

• Tamale Filling:
• 2 1/2 pounds pork roast could also use chicken though I haven't tried
• 2 large onion, halved
• 2 clove garlic
• 8 dried California chile pods
• 4 cups water
• 3 teaspoons salt
• Additional Spices After Cooking Above:
• 1 1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin
• 2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoon salt
• Tamale Dough:
• 2 cups MaSeca instant corn masa flour for tamales
• 1 1/2 cups plus unsalted chicken broth or water if boughten chicken broth, reduce salt
• 3 tablespoons reserved chile sauce
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 c. Crisco, vegetable shortening

Preparation

Step 1

Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with 4 cups of water. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 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. Reserve 1 cup sauce for serving

Place pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic, and add remaining sauce and water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the meat easily falls apart 4 hours minimum. 8 - 12 hours better. Shred and chop meat. Add additional spices listed to remaining sauce. From this reserve 1/2 cup for the dough Simmer the remaining sauce and pork until the sauce is reduced to almost gone. Refrigerate the pork mixture for at least 3 hours, or up to three days.
Tamale Dough: Double this dough if you want to use all the meat, otherwise freeze remaining meat or serve in tacos or burritos
1. Rehydrate the corn flour. Place the dry corn flour in a bowl, add the broth or water and reserved chile sauce. Mix with a wooden spoon, then knead briefly with your hands to make sure all the liquid is incorporated and there are no dry bits of flour at the bottom of the dish. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and allow the corn flour to re-hydrate for 30 minutes.

2. Complete the masa. Place the fat in the bowl of a stand mixer and, with the whisk attachment, beat it at medium to medium high speed until it is light and creamy, scraping down the bowl as necessary, about 2 minutes. Add the baking powder and salt, and beat for another minute. Add the re-hydrated masa and, beginning at low speed and gradually increasing it to medium, beat for 1 minute. Turn the speed to medium high and continue beating for 10 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl 2 or 3 times, or as necessary. Test the masa by taking a ½ inch piece and placing it carefully in a glass of cold water. It should float. If it does not, continue beating for another 2 minutes. If it still does not float the measurements are probably off and a little more room temperature fat should be added, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough floats
Now cut your parchment paper (mine was 12”x16” sheets) into 6”x8” rectangles. lay paper with short end toward you. Spoon out enough of your Masa mixture to cover 4”x6” of that area. So that it covers the bottom half of the paper. spread so that it's 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick. Then spoon out about three big teaspoons full of your meat mixture in the center. Roll the finished tamale up across in the narrow direction of the paper like folding paper for an envelope. Fold the empty end up and tie with kitchen string.

Steam the tamales: To steam the tamales, bring about 3 inches of water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer, place the tamales in a steamer, cover and steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (Many cooks place a penny in the bottom of the steamer, so its rattling will alert them if too much of the water evaporates. Put a towel between the lid and the pot to create a better seal. be sure and fold the towel over the top of the lid, or otherwise ensure that it does not come close enough to the stove's burner to catch fire).When time is up turn off the heat and allow the tamales to remain covered for 15 minutes. Remove the cover and open one of the tamales. If is does not stick to the husk they are done. If it sticks, steam an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve with reserved chile sauce