Best Homemade Tamales Recipes

HOMEMADE BEEF TAMALES

Steps:

• Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add beef, green chiles, hot sauce, salt, 3 cloves garlic, onion, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir until beef is thoroughly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and reserve the drippings.
• Combine reserved drippings, masa, lard, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix well. Add up to 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until mixture is as thick as biscuit dough. Divide into 50 equal balls. Place dough balls between 2 cutting boards each lined with a sheet of waxed paper; flatten into circles.
• Place each dough circle into a corn husk. Spoon about 3 tablespoons beef mixture in a line across the middle of each husk. Top with a small amount of cheese. Fold opposing sides of the tortilla to overlap the filling. Roll the husk around the tamale and fold in one end.
• Combine the remaining 1 clove garlic, 1 cup water, and chili powder in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring chili sauce to a boil. Remove from heat.
• Stand a batch of the tamales, folded ends-down, in a steamer basket on top of a double boiler over simmering water. Bring water to a boil; cover and steam for 20 minutes. Remove tamales from heat; remove husks and top tamales with the chili sauce. Repeat with remaining tamales.

HOMEMADE CHICKEN TAMALES

Steps:

• To make the tamales: Place the corn husks in a large bowl and add enough boiling water to cover. Submerge in the water by weighting down with another bowl. Let stand until the husks soften, about 1 hour. Drain well and pat dry.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Add the onion to the fat in the skillet and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the cilantro, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne. Return the chicken to the skillet and add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes.
• Transfer the chicken to a plate. Cool until easy to handle. Discard the skin and bones and coarsely chop the meat. Transfer to a medium bowl.
• Meanwhile, let the cooking liquid stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Skim off and discard the fat on the surface. Return the skillet to the stove and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a thick glaze, about 20 minutes. Scrape the glaze onto the chicken, then add the cheese.
• To make the tamales, place a corn husk on the work surface. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the Classic Cornbread batter in a 2 to 3-inch square area in the center of the husk. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of the chicken in the center of the batter and top with about 1 tablespoon of the batter. Fold the sides of the husk to enclose the batter (the tamale is now about 2 1/2 inches wide). Fold over the ends of the husk so the tamale is about 3 inches long. Place the tamale, smooth side up, on the work surface. Using kitchen twine, tie up the tamale with kitchen string, gift-box fashion. Repeat with the remaining husks, batter and chicken. (You may have some husks left over since you soaked more than you needed, in case some got torn.) Stand the tamales up, side by side, in a steamer inserted in a large pot. Add enough water to the pot to barely reach the bottom of the steamer. Cover tightly and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low. Steam the tamales until the batter is firm (open a tamale to check), about 1 hour. (The tamales can be made up to 8 hours ahead, cooled, and refrigerated. Steam over boiling water for 15 minutes to reheat.)
• Serve hot, with the Salsa Roja passed on the side.
• Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the tomatillos and cook just until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain.
• Heat a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over high heat until very hot. Cook the chiles, turning frequently, until they turn a darker shade, about 3 minutes. Do not burn them. Transfer to a plate and cool. Cut open and discard the seeds and stems. (Wear plastic gloves if your hands are sensitive, and do not touch your eyes or other delicate parts of your body until you wash your hands well.)
• Puree the tomatillos, chiles, tomato sauce, onion, and garlic in a blender or food processor. Season, to taste, with salt. Cool completely. (The salsa can be prepared up to 3 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated.)
• Whisk the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl to combine. Make a well in the center. Whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and oil in another bowl until the eggs are well combined. Pour into the well and stir just until the batter is moistened ? do not overbeat.

REAL HOMEMADE TAMALES

Steps:

• 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.
• 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 to 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

HOMEMADE TAMALES

Steps:

• Fill the sink with warm water and soak corn husks until tender. Put something heavy on them to make sure they are submerged in water.
• Meat: Boil the chicken with the salt, black pepper, and onion until tender. Debone and skin the chicken. Shred it with forks; then chop with knife. Place in a large saucepan.
• Peppers: Place the guajillo peppers in saucepan. Cover with water and boil until soft. Blend the peppers and a small amount of the water they were boiled in the blender or food processor and add to the chicken.
• Paste: Mash the whole cumin and black peppercorns until powdery in a molcejete. Combine with garlic cloves in the blender until it is a paste-like consistency. Add to saucepot with chicken, and peppers. Add 2 tablespoons salt and 8 cups warm chicken broth. Cook while making the masa. Taste for seasoning and then turn off heat. Keep warm.
• Masa: Combine maseca, chili powder, baking powder, and salt to taste (about 2 tablespoons). Drop lard into bowl. Add 5 cups warm chicken broth. Knead dough until it is the consistency of cookie dough. Roll the masa into balls. For light and fluffy tamale dough, whip the lard and salt with electric mixer for a few minutes before adding to maseca. Once maseca is added, continue to whip, adding broth until mixture is the consistency of cookie dough. Test it by dropping a small ball of dough into a glass of water. If dough sinks, it needs more liquid whipped into it. If it floats, it is ready.
• At this point, it is okay to refrigerate until ready to use. Add more chicken broth if masa becomes too thick. According to Lucy, never ever throw the chicken broth out. She doesn't know what to think about "you white people throwing chicken broth out".
• To prepare the press: Cut a gallon zip lock bag down two sides and place on the press. Place moist husk on the bag with pointed side pointed to the left. Place ball on husk and press. Spoon desired amount of chicken mixture on pressed masa. Roll the tamale up left to right. Continue until all ingredients are used.
• Place a vegetable steamer into a large stock pot. Put the water up to edges (water should not touch the tamales). Put a quarter in the water. As long as the quarter is rattling there is enough water in the pan. Place tamales in the pot. Place first layer in a line; then crosswise. Alternate until all are used. cover with the leftover husks. Then cover with at least three moist towels. Place top on pot. Steam exactly 45 minutes and then enjoy some authentic mexican tamales.
• The authentic mexican tamale recipe is done when husk pulls away easily from the masa.
• After cooking tamales, cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil; place in ziplock bag. Freeze up to 3 months. You can steam them right out of freezer for about 20 - 30 minutes.