Tamales 101

Disclaimer: To my knowledge, I do not have a drop of Hispanic blood in my body, and therefore I have absolutely no authority when it comes to making tamales. I have very little experience making tamales - I've only made them four times, and I just started making them this year. However, I've had plenty of experience eating tamales, and I've been called a "hot tamale" once or twice. I've recently come to the decision that I am meant to make tamales.

Warning: I tend to get wordy when I start talking about food, so settle in. I'll get to the recipe eventually.

I've wanted to make tamales for 15 years now. During my second semester of college, I took a speech class, and one of our required speeches was a how-to demonstration. I dressed in khaki pants, a denim shirt and an apron and showed the class how to make paper. I haven't really changed much in the past 15 years.

A fellow classmate put together an overhead presentation (obviously before PowerPoint became mainstream) to demonstrate how she and her family made tamales. Since that day I've wanted to make tamales. I really don't know why it took me so long to finally make them.

When my parents came up to visit New Years weekend so my dad could make his first batch of homebrew with George, I decided that my mom and I would make tamales. You know, it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the process so much that I made another batch the following day.

The first time, I followed these directions. They were delicious, but in typical fashion, I tweaked the recipe a bit for subsequent batches, and I liked the tamales even more.

Tamales are certainly not fast food. If you make meat tamales, it's best to slow cook the meat. For pork tamales, I put a pork roast and a can of fire roasted tomatoes in the crockpot and cooked it on low overnight. The corn husks need to be soaked for two hours (though the tamale recipe in my Chevy's cookbook said 20 minutes, so maybe this step can be expedited). Once the tamales are assembled, they steam for 2 hours (once again, the Chevy's cookbook said 20 minutes, but I think two hours is better). If you want tamales for dinner, I'd suggest getting started early in the day. Once the tamales are cooking, you'll be free to enjoy your afternoon knowing that dinner is taken care of.

Here's my recipe for vegetarian tamales:

2 dozen corn husks, soaked in water for two hours

Filling for tamales:

1 onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 cup frozen (or fresh) corn

1 can diced green chilies

1/2 a jar of roasted red peppers, diced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt to taste

In a medium sized pot, heat a little oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until onions just start to turn golden on the edges. Add the rest of the ingredients and just enough water to cover. Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer until potatoes are soft. Drain and reserve cooking liquid for masa.

Masa ingredients:

2 pounds (about half a bag) Masa corn flour (Maseca is the brand I use)

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 cup vegetable oil

Cooking liquid from filling

Warm water as needed

(Confession: the original recipe I read called for cumin seed, but my brain read "coriander seed", which I happened to have. I saved the seeds when my cilantro bolted last summer, and I think the coriander seeds made a fine addition to the recipe. Feel free to use cumin seeds if you have them, or omit the seeds if you prefer. I just really enjoy taking a bite and getting the explosion of flavor concentrated in each seed).



Mix first six ingredients in a large bowl. Add the oil and the reserved liquid from the filling. Mix thoroughly, adding warm water as needed, until the mixture has the consistency of peanut butter. Don't be afraid to use your hands to mix the masa.

Now you're ready to assemble the tamales. Separate the soaked corn husks and inspect for bugs (yes, it happens and it's completely normal).

With the smaller tip of the corn husk pointing towards you, take about 1/4 cup of the masa and spread it on the corn husk, leaving about two inches clear on the bottom and on the right side of the husk. I prefer to prepare a stack of the husks, then fill and roll the tamales, but proceed as you like. Once again, feel free to use your hands to spread the masa.

Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the filling and spread it down the left side of the masa, about 1/2 inch from the edge. Fold the left edge of the corn husk over to the right edge of the masa, fold the bottom of the husk up, then the right side of the husk over to the left and around the tamale. (My mom and I watched this video several times to figure out how to fold the tamales.)

Place tamales in a large steaming pot, with enough water in the bottom to steam the tamales without getting them wet. I use my large stock pot with the pasta insert. If you don't have a steaming pot, my friend Maya suggests placing chopsticks across the bottom of a pot and placing tamales on top of the chopsticks to elevate them from the steaming water. Cover and steam for two hours.



Steamed tamales can be cooled and frozen, if you can resist eating them all at once. Buen provecho!