Tamales: A Typical Mexican Christmas Dish

Tamales: A Typical Mexican Christmas Dish

By: Maria Garcia Manzano. AEIC of The Quill

I was born in Mexico and immigrated to Canada when I was 6 years old. However, I still have memories of the Christmases I spent in Mexico as a young child. The food I remember the most are Tamales. Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish consisting of prepared corn masa that is filled with delicious fillings and wrapped in corn husks before being steamed. They can be found in many different sizes and flavors, the most common ones being the following:

• Sweet

• Cheese and Peppers

• Pork Meat

• Corn

• Chicken

Here is a simple recipe you can follow to recreate this delicious Mexican dish. This recipe makes 20 tamales:

Tamale Filling:

• 1-1/2 pounds pork loin

• 1-1/4 large onion, halved

• 1-1/4 cloves garlic

• 5 dried California chile pods

• 2-1/2 cups water

• 1-3/4 teaspoons salt

Tamale Dough:

• 2 cups masa harina

• 1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1-3/4 teaspoons salt

• ⅔ cup lard

• 1 (8 ounce) package dried corn husks

• 1 cup sour cream

Directions:

Step 1

Place pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the meat is cooked through, about 2 hours.

Step 2

Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat and 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.

Step 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.

Step 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 1 hour.

Step 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.