Praise the Lard. An Evening With Tamales

Ready to try making home made tamales? In today’s blog I will give you ingredients and instructions for making the best mole sauce for the best tamales you’ve ever tasted. I worked up the courage to make these a few weeks ago for my family. My husband had been traveling, so I knew having a nice home made meal would appeal to him. My mother introduced me to Cardenas the new Mexican specialty store and I was inspired. Here are my recipes for home made tamales with pork and mole sauce.

Mole Sauce for Tamales

All this Mole goodness made in my blender

Ingredients:

1 Bag Dried Pasilla peppers (about 6) Or whichever dried pepper you prefer

1 Bag Dried Ancho peppers (about 6)

Place these peppers in a dry Le Creuset pot to heat and release oils. Then soak in 2 Cups hot water for 15-30 minutes. Then add to blender with remaining ingredients.

¼ C Sesame seeds

¼ C Almonds

1 Plantain cut into chunks.

Heat these three above ingredients in a pot on the stove until caramelized. Then add to blender.

 

6 Prunes

1 Allspice

2 Cinnamon sticks

¼ C Peanuts

1 Tablespoon White vinegar

1 Tablespoon Dried oregano

½ C Beef broth, veggie broth or chicken broth

½ C brown sugar

4 ounces Mexican chocolate melted in microwave

1.5 C Herette Chocolate Hazelnut Porter or Guinness Beer. 

Add above ingredients to blender.

 

Take 6 tomatillos, 1 white onion, 4 garlic cloves, 

2 whole tomatoes, 1 green ancho chile and roast on a sheet pan for 20 minutes.

Put all ingredients into the blender and puree until smooth. Let mole cook in a Medium size pot on the stove for 1 hour or longer until flavors are combined. Set aside.

My Mole Negro made from scratch

Tamale filling :

Take pork leg or turkey and cook until done. I seared pork cutlets, then boiled them slowly with fresh chopped herbs oregano, thyme and parsley, a white onion, 1 celery stalk and 1 carrot covered in water until cooked through, about 1.5 hours. Remove from water and cool. Fry in peanut oil until the pork is caramelized. Set aside.

Tamale assembly time with mole sauce, fried pork, pre made masa and corn husks soaked in water and dried.

Buy a pre made tamale puree at a Mexican specialty store. I went to Cardenas in Concord California. Make sure it isn’t (pina) pineapple flavor! First big mistake.

Didn’t realize I had made pineapple flavor tamale until I tasted it for breakfast the next day with a couple of scrambled eggs. Just horrible! Too sweet and I had to throw the entire batch in the garbage. What a waste!

Tamale recipe:

2 Cups Manseca or masa harina

1 Cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth

1 teaspoon baking powder

⅔ c  Fat Works Leaf Lard melted

 

Instructions:

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until combined.

 

8 Oz dried corn Husks (soak overnight in warm water)

 

Next, make sure if you make your own tamales, you check the expiration date on the masa. It’s called Maseca and my friend picked some up for me at the store since she had a few things to pick up. After I had made and assembled more tamales,and steamed them, I tasted them. The masa tasted weird. Now I am not a tamale expert, but these had a funky taste to them. After checking the expiration, I realized my friend had gotten an expired bag of Maseca. Sad face.

Here’s my Masa mixture for my Tamales.

In any case, my first try at this complicated meal ended twice in disaster. I’m not afraid to take the task again head on and make them again. 

If you fail, try again. Right? That is how we learn.

To assemble:

Take the soaked and dried corn husk and lay it on a cutting board or plate. Smear about 1/4 C masa mixture onto the husk which has the wider side on the bottom. Coat fried pork with mole sauce being generous. Take a tablespoon or two and drop onto masa mixture. Roll up carefully, being sure the sides of the masa meet to ensure they cook properly and they stay together while steaming. Fold larger end together and lay in a basket of boiling water making sure the water doesn’t cover the tamales. Fill basket and steam for one hour and 15 minutes on simmer making sure to refill pot of water as needed. Tamales are ready to be served!

Thank you to my Mexican friends Juanita and Silvia for giving me the courage to make these. I will give them a go again in the near future. Until then, go make something new. Give yourself time to research these Oaxacan customs and traditions and make tamales and mole for yourself and your family for the holidays. It is totally work the time and effort when you can present these yummy creations to your loved ones.

 

And thanks for letting me share my stories with you. 

 

Check out more of my previous blogs here. I’m going to make these shortbread cookies next with my apricot jam.