Hot Tamales - 1/26/11

Today I took a cooking class to learn how to make tamales. They are like a coarse corn meal mush with roasted poblano pepper, mild tomato sauce, oaxaca cheese wrapped, folded, and tied in corn husks and steamed. They take a lot of time to make, but are definitely worth it! That messy glob in the middle of the open husk is what you eat. Is is very light ad fluffy and moist.


Traditionally, tamales are made totally by hand and the corn mixture has to be mixed for at least an hour to and hour and a half to beat enough air into the mixture, but we used a kitchenaid mixture for that part. The men in the family usually get up around 4 am and make and beat that mixture, then wake the women up to do the rest. The tamales steam in a rapidly boiling pot for well over an hour or more


It is tradition that when you make tamales, nobody can be in a bad mood, angry, frustrated, etc or they will not cme out right. Also you cnanot make them if you are pregnant or they won't work either! They are usually made by a gorup of women , either fmaily or friends. There are many different kinds of tamales, even chocolate ones!

More pictures of the process to come!