I'm going to show you how to make your very own tamales.
They're really not as big of a deal as everybody talks about
they are, especially if you're not trying to make 200.
I'm just going to make a few today so it's totally
manageable.
Let's tamale it up.
I've got some dried corn husks and some tamales masa mix.
These are very crispy and dried out.
They are actually corn husks from corn that have been
dried.
I'm going to reconstitute them in some boiling water first, so that
they get soft and pliable.
This is what we're going to roll the tamales in.
Into the boiling water we go.
I'm just going to poke them down and get them all wet.
That's what he said.
Leave that while I make the masa.
This is what you're looking for, 'Masa instantania de mies para hacer tamales;' it'll
say to make tamales.
On the other side it says 'Instant corn masa mix
for delicious tamales.'
We'll see.
Anyway, this is cornmeal, but the corn has been treated with lye
first, and it breaks it down in a different way.
I've seen recipes that call for just regular cornmeal, which I guess
you could do that, but it wouldn't exactly be a tamale.
Let's do it the right way, people.
The first thing I'm going to do is put some fat in here; I am using coconut
oil.
You could use lard or shortening.
I like the fact that coconut oil has no animal fat, so this could be vegetarian.
Also, I like the coconut aroma that it imparts to the tamales.
Call me un-traditional.
I'm going to just get that fluffed up a little bit, and then
I'm going to add my masa.
It looks like cornmeal, but it's really finely
ground.
Some salt, and I'm going to add some ancho chili powder.
You could use regular chili powder or whatever.
I'm going to add in some warm water.
You could use broth if you like.
You will see it transform before your eyes, into a pasty dough.
I'm going to check it.
This feels really good.
It's like a really soft Play- Doh and it holds in place when you make a
thing.
It stays in a ball if you roll it into a ball, but it's not sticking
to my fingers.
Perfect, so easy.
Let's see if our corn husks are rehydrated enough.
They're about there.
I'll just let them sit in this hot water for a couple more minutes.
I already make up some filling; this is a pork filling.
I'll put the recipe for this on the website.
I'll also put a sweet potato filling that's vegan,
if you want to do that.
This is basically just some roasted pork, and then
I shredded it then cooked it down with some other spices and some water to
get it really, really soft and small enough pieces to fit in the tamale.
I'm about to start assembling.
I'm going to go ahead and get my steamer basket ready.
I have here a Spanish Oaks Golf Club token that I'm going to
put in the bottom of my pot, and then I'm going to put my steamer basket on
top of that and put water in there.
We're going to steam them in here.
That little coin in the bottom will tell me if
it starts to run out of water.
If it stops jingle-jangling, then I'll know tamales
are about to burn; add more water.
That's ready to roll.
Now we will start rolling tamales.
Let's see.
Those are really hot.
When you pull these out, you can feel both sides.
They're both ridged, but one side is definitely smoother than the other
when you run it . . . when your fingers are up vertically like this.
You want to put the smooth-side up and you want to put the smaller end facing you.
Then just get a very small amount of masa, maybe a couple of tablespoons.
I'm actually going to use a knife to spread it out a little bit.
It seems like it's not very much, but the masa swells as it cooks, so it'll be enough
at the end.
That's all spreaded out.
Now I'll get maybe just a couple tablespoons of this; this
has been cooked and cooled off, too.
Lay it right in the middle.
If you've ever rolled sushi, this'll be a very familiar
move to you: Just fold it over, mash it together, and then you have
a tamale.
Fold that up, roll this around.
Some people like to tie it closed with a little strip of corn husk;
I'll show you.
I find that it stays by itself just fine.
If you want to do this, you can do that.
Oh, snap.
Then lay down . . . oh, shit.
This is so disorganized.
Lay down a couple of these on the bottom, and then plop that
little guy in there.
We'll keep rolling tamales.
Final tamale; go ahead and tie it because it looks cute.
Drop this in.
We're going to cover it with the rest of our corn husks.
I'll put the lid on and we're going to steam these for about 1 1/2 hours.
All right people, it's time for a tamale party.
I'm going to turn this off.
It's been 1 1/2 hours.
These puppies are done.
Oh, my God; they're so steaming hot.
You don't eat the husk; that's a thing, that's a trick I'll tell you
right now.
Wow.
Look at that.
It's delicious and moist, and filled with meat.
I'm going to eat some with some hot sauce.
Everybody always gives me a bunch of crap when I don't put hot sauce
on stuff.
It's super-hot.
Man, that is effing good.
Cool.
There's how you make tamales, people.
If you've never had tamales, I highly recommend them
because they are phenomenal.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.
Recipes are on the website, HilahCooking.com.
I'll put the fillings, recipes, and all that business on
there.
See you guys later.
Thanks for watching.
Bye.