Tamales

[Macabre]

I know we have a tamales thread. Can't find it. I've been wanting to post this since Christmas.

In Texas, it's traditional to have tamales for Christmas Eve, but we had them Christmas Day with spinach enchiladas (a really amazing recipe). Visually we should have had the black refried black beans I'd planned on, but it was more important to have plenty of room for the enchiladas and tamales.

I'll post the recipe once DH sends it to me. Ibdisbthe enchi Kardashian and

Hahaha. I had to save that autocorrect.

What I meant to type: I made the enchiladas a d DH made the tamales. With some help from DS.

[Macabre]

Oh, they were sweet potato tamales. And I do believe the most amazing tamales I've ever had. DH made a ginger maple cream sauce to go over them. Wowza.





And a naked one. 

[Macabre]

DH's recipe. The proportions in the dough are from Stephan Pyles' tamales cookbook. He added the chipotle (which is wonderful and compliments the sweet potato perfectly). The filling is his as is the cream sauce.

Also, we don't have a pecan allergy in our family, so this includes pecans.


Soak 10 large corn husks in warm water (soak a few extra in case some tear during assembly)

Dough
Cream 1/4 c. butter and 1/4 c. shortening with 1 1/2 c. masa harina 2-3 minutes.

Scrape sides and add 2 t. chipotle powder, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. baking powder and beat 2 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 c. warm water and beat 2 minutes until fluffy.

Form into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes. Dough will be soft.

Filling
Peel and dice one sweet potato, and boil in salted water until tender but not mushy, 7-8 minutes, depending note side of your dice. Drain and remove to mixing bowl.

Sauté 1 red onion, sliced into thin strips, in 1 T. butter and 1 t. salt until carmelized, 10 minutes or so.

Add splash of balsamic vinegar and 2 t. maple syrup.

Add carmelized onion and 1/4 c. chopped pecans to sweet potatoes. Stir lightly. Add black pepper to taste.

Add 1/2 c. masa dough to sweet potato mixture and blend in.

Assembly
Tear 1-2 corn husks into 16 strips to be used for tying tamales (2 per tamale)
Shake dry a corn husk.

Spread 1/8 of the dough on a corn husk  out to 1 1/2 inches from either end and 1/4 inch from the long sides.

Place 1/8 of the filling in the center of the dough.

Roll up the edges of the husk to surround the filling completely with dough, wrap into a tube around the dough, and tie both ends with the strips you tore earlier.
Each tamale will look like a large Tootsie Roll or a Christmas cracker tied with ribbon on each end.

Steam tamales over simmering water 40-45 minutes until dough is firmly set.

Ginger maple creme sauce
(You can do this while tamales are steaming)
Heat 1 cup cream to boiling and add 1 T. maple syrup and 1/2 t. ground ginger and a dash of nutmeg. Boiling, reduce to 1/2 c. Keep warm.

Serving
Slice tamale with a sharp knife through the husk and pinch ends toward each other, like a baked potato, exposing the insides. Place on plate.
Pour 1 T. creme sauce into the space you opened up.

[Macabre]

We are making two types of tamales for DS' grad party. This is the first one:

Chipotle and Caramelized Ginger Sweet Potato Tamales

Masa dough
Beat together by hand or in a large mixer:
7 c masa flour
5 c hot water
Add 1/2 c at a time:
2 1/2 c chilled shortening
Mix together then add slowly:
1 c chilled no-chicken stock
4 t baking powder
1 T salt
Beat until light and fluffy enough for a balled up portion to float in water.

Filling
Roast, cool and peel:
4 sweet potatoes
Sauté:
1/4 c minced ginger until caramelized with
1 T butter
2 T sugar
Mash sweet potato and ginger with:
1/4 c maple syrup
1 T salt
1 T ground cayenne
2 T ground chipotle,
1 T paprika

Add 1/3 of the filling to prepared masa and beat again until fluffy. Reserve remainder of filling for inside the tamales.

Let masa rest, covered, for 1 hour to absorb moisture fully.

Soak 2 lbs corn husks in hot water 1 hour.

Roll golf ball sized dough in your hands and press into a 1/4 inch thick oval on wide part of corn husk. Add 1 t filling. Fold dough around filling. Fold narrow and wide ends of husk over the tamale and then roll sideways to close. Tie with a strip of corn husk.

Pack upright in steamer and cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours until done.

[Macabre]

This would be a bit spicy for most people. Also, I am not as personally find of the smokiness of chipotle. I would probably use serranos if I were making them.

[Macabre]

We made a tamale video!

Tamales

[spacecanada]

Thank you for the recipe, Mac! I am excited to make these when I return from camp in a few weeks.

[nameless]

This would be a bit spicy for most people. Also, I am not as personally find of the smokiness of chipotle. I would probably use serranos if I were making them.

For me, real actual roasted & smokey chipotle is awesome. Nasty "fake smoke flavor added in" chipotle powder in the spice aisle of the grocery store is an abomination. (and sometimes, that's just generic hot pepper powder w/ fake smoke flavor)

I know you understand this

I miss real chipotle...smoked right there at the farmers' market for me.

[Macabre]

He did not make his chipotle from scratch--used Penzey's. I am not fond of smokey stuff anywhere--even in cheese.

But today when making salsa verde did make it all from scratch--and charring all the peppers for that (used poblanos and serranos). There's a pic on FB that I'm tagged in that shows it. Yum. 

[nameless]

yeah - I'm not a fan of Penzey's....I'm sure they don't use fake smoky stuff, but it might depend on WHAT they use to smoke the chipotle...some kind of wood or something. In Tucson, the wood didn't really smell, but whatever they used made a huge flame and then they had the hand-cranked metal grate roaster turning and turning and turning and by noon they'd be ready

[Macabre]

I need to post the other two recipes some time this week. We also made a spinach, corn and cheese one (awesome, but through was harder to work with, as it had corn kernels added) and a black bean and banana. DH assed black beans to the masa, and the filling is banana--with a bit of lemongrass. Wow.

It was funny, my mom said, "These are not Texas tamales!" Um, yeah they are. They are from Dallas chef Stephan Pyles tamale cookbook, and he grew up in Big Spring. But these are vegetarian. And on the gourmet side.

Yep--my mom was the only one at DS' party to complain about the tamales.