Tamales - Queen Creek,AZ

Sometimes Shar's offers a class called 'Mario's Authentic Homemade Tamales'. I love taking classes at Shar's. she really teaches you a lot, and you get a ton of samples! Most of the classes are free too. The number is ###-###-####, her store is located in the Gilbert/Guadalupe area. I know they just had a tamale class this month, but I don't know when the next one is.

K., Here is a simple Tamale recipe:

Go to Food City, and you will find all the ingredients you will need.

Since you are a beginner here is a pretty simple start.
1 5 ab. bag plain masa
About 5 lbs beef roast or pork (whichever you like best, or you can mix the two meats).
Frozen red chili, BACAS about, 2 containers.
I use Crisco Shortening and it comes in sticks like butter
garlic, onion, one bag corn husk and deli paper (paper optional)
Roast: Cook the roast add garlic and onions with water added. When the roast is done shred the meat, save the juices from the roast for your masa mixture.
CHILI In a large pot add about 1/8 c of oil add about 1/2 c flour to hot oil. Than add your frozen red chili to this mixture along with some juices from your meat (for flavoring). Once the chili is mixed added your shrdded meat.
Masa instructions:
Mix 5 lbs masa, a amall amount at a time, together with 1 1/2 sticks of Crisco Shortening, add the meat broth and some salt. The mixture should come out smooth. Not runny or too thick.
So, now the chili meat is prepared, the masa is completed. now you have to asseble all this together.
the husks will come unwashed, you should open and clean out each corn husk. Have a sink full of warm water and put each one in to soak. Dry off the husks and start assembling for tamales.
Open the corn husk and star at the widest part and spread your masa completely acrass the husk up to about 1/4 in of the husk. Than add about 2 tablespoons chili and one olive (optional). Flip one side of the husk than the other, fold over the 1/4 inch portion that does not have masa, and you have completed one tamale.
If you decide to add deli papers you should make sure you soak the papers in warm water than wrap the completed tamale in this paper.

In a steamer cook your tamales for about one hour. When you remove the tamales they will need to cool for a short while before removing husks.
Have fun and enjoy....L.

Try to find the book "Christmas Means Tamales" by Arthur D. Sandoval, ISBN 1-4107-6917-8. It's a great little book that not only tells you how to make tamales, but 60 other Southwestern dishes all around a great story of his family living here in Arizona and New Mexico. We bought it from the author, but I understand it is available at the major bookstores or http://1stbooks.com, or by calling 1-888-519-5121. I think you will enjoy it.

I too decided to make tamales this year and I had never done it before. I entered in the words "recipes for tamales" on google and the second or third one says something like hot tamales. Anyway the web site has detailed instructions as well as very clear pictures in order to know exactly what to do. After having made tamales last week, I learned a few things. Buy the corn husks that are pre-seperated and seem large with a uniform size. I made the mistake of buying some that were a little cheaper and it ended up being a nightmare to try to seperate them and clean them and they were all different sizes and that made it difficult to assemble them. I would also suggest after rolling them, before you put them in the steamer to stack them on the counter. It is almost impossible to keep them upright in the steamer unless you tilt the steamer (which is hard to do) or you have someone that can hold them in place. What I found to work the best was after rolling each one, I would lay it on the coundter with the loose ends down and stack them and at the end I could tilt the steamer while placing them in the steamer and each tamale would sort of hold in the last one. Anyway, the website that I used made it so easy because of the wonderful pictures and the detailed instructions as well as they have an easy to follow list of things to buy. I am married to a mexican and he loved them! I bought all the stuff at Phoenix Ranch Market because they have really great prices, you could find the stuff pretty much anywhere. I even saw chiles and corn husks at Fry's the other day.

OMG! my sisters and I made 40 dozen yesterday. here ismy recipe for red chili tamales. i dont usually measure but ill try my best to break it down to a smaller amount.
masa
1 package corn masa, ( found in the meat dept)
1 cup chili sauce ( see below)
salt to taste ( taste the masa before making tamales)
4 tablespoons baking powder
1 stick butter not margarinemelted and cooled
1/2 stick cricso melted and cooled

meat
aporx a 10lb chunk of tamale meat( ask the butcher)
1 whole onion peeled and quartered
1 head garlic unpeeled
salt & pepper
2 tablesppons oregano
1 bunch fresh cilantro
enough beef broth to come up to halfway up the roast

put all in a electric roaster or divied among crockpots and set on high until it is simering then turn to low or about 250 and cook overnight or until the meat shredds easily with a fork. you can also use one of those huge aluminum bowls and put everything in it and cover tightly with foil and cook at 250 overnight or about 6 hours then check to see if meat shreds easily.

chili sauce
1/4 cup oil in a deep pot.
1 clove garlic peeled
salt
1/2 cup cili pwder, i like to use santa cruz brand it comesin a littel red box, because it is so red.
4 tablesppons flour
2 small cans tomato sauce
4 cups beef broth. you can use the juice form the roast for better flavor
heat oil to medium not hot in pot add galic clove, let clove cook for about a minute. make sure you assemble evrything before youstart cooking close to the stove. and chili powder and flour and stir until it is like a watery paste. if it it too thick add more oil. keep stirring for about 3 minutes to taost the chili and cook the flour. add tomato sauce and stir to get lumps out, it should ba thick paste by now, add beef broth and bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer and simmer covered for about 20 mintues.

shredd the beef discard onion garlic cilantro etc. return meat to strianed juices it was cooked in. add all the chili sauce except for about 1 cup of it that you will use for the masa. return to crock pot or roaster and set on medium for another 30 minutes while you make the masa
masa
make sure the masa it at room temperature it will be easier to work with. break it down by rubbing it between your hands to a fine grainy texture. add all ingrediants and stir around and around with your hand making sure everythign is well mixed. it should be the conistencey of thick batter. very thick , like when you spread it , it should hold its shape but be easy to srpead.
two packges of corn husks ( hojas)
soak the hojas ( corn husks in hot water) you may want to do this at the begining to soften them.

separate the individual husks into full size and medium. discard the small thin ones or set aside for other stuff.
rinse in hot water to get all of the yucky stuff that is dried and also the silk that remains.

to assemble tamales/

open a jar of green olives with the pits in them and put in a bowl

spread a tablespoon or so onto the bottom half of the large end of a husk. add about a tablespoon of meat mixture nd 2 olives to one edge and roll it unitl it is like a cilinder with a point on it. the point part shouldnt have any masa or meat on it. fold over the pointed part and let aside with the folded part down . continue until you run out of stuff and you are cussing yourself for getting into this mess. i usually put a small aluminum bowl inside my steamer and place the tmales folded side down so they wont spill in a pyramid form. i steam them approx 40 mintues to an hour or until the masa is translucent. check one tamale for doneness and cook more until they are done. but the more you open the steamer the longer it will take to cook. it is a lot more fun if you do it with abunch of family members or make the men clean up afterwards because you will be tired. and my sisters and i have margaritas all day while we are making them so we are pretty much usleless by the end or the tamale fest. i also have the recipe for green corn tamales if you want but they are even more work to make.
if you have left over husks you can have the kids make corn husk angels . fold up one large piece in half the long way then flod again the other way. cut a sting form one of the hojas and tie it in the middle. cut the pointy end off another oja and crinkle in the middle and tie it to the back of the hoja where you tied off the middle. i also save the left over hojas for alter and re soak them. cut them into about 2 inch strips . melt white chocolate chips. add a handfull of ground nuts and about 2 2 tablesppons masa whitout thee chili sauce . mix it and spread a thiny bit along one side and rol into straw sized packages. let dry and use them as trats or as decorations. i tie a small bun of these with red raffia and use them on top of the napkins at my table. nice after dinner treat

another thing that my granny taught us to do is to belss the tamales once they assemlbed but not cooked. we cover them with a pretty wihte tea towel that one of us has made that year ( we take turns) and bless the tamales and the family . there is a reason there ate two olives int ehre and we talk aobut he significance of two olives. if you nad one olive it would ba lone and no one should be alone on christmas. then we all have the last shot of tequila for the day ( i cheat) and begin cooking them.

my margarita recipe

2 ounce cuervo gold tequila
1 ounce cointreau ( orange flavoed liquer)
6 ounce fresh lime juice
2 cubes sugar
put all in blender and fill half way with ice and blend unitl slushy. if it is too thick add a squirt of lemon lime soda. rim glass with sugar and pour into glass and enjoy.
put in blender,

I wish I could share a recipe with you, but if you come across a great one, please send it my way, too.
Thanks and happy holidays!
Jen

Hi K.,

you can make your own tamales but it is very time consuming. you can even spend time with friends and family that want to get together and all help out.
You will need the following:

Maza (depending for how many people. you can start with 10 lbs and you can buy the maza prepared at Food City, ranch Market or La Tolteca 16th St Van Buren)
corn husk
pork shoulder
dry red chile & spice it with garlic & salt

Meat: you can boil the pork should until it's very tender and shred it

Sauce: you boil the red chiles for about 15 min then put in blender with salt and garlic.

Corn Husk: need to be soaked in water so they can soften

Maza: put in big bowl

After meat is shredded and the chile is blended mix together. then you spread the maza on the corn husk and put the meat in the middle and fold.
you need to have a big tall oya (pan?) where you can have water (like if you're going to steam them) then you stack them standing up then put them to boil on med-low and it takes about 2-3 hrs depending on how many you make.

hope this helps....

Happy HOlidays :)

First you'll need:

a steamer
a large bowl to mix masa in
tongs
Measuring cups
measuring spoons
6 quart or larger stock pot
sharp chefs knife
cutting board
a pot or bowl to soak corn husks in
a damp white cotton towel (to place over tamales when cooking)
a butter knife or spreader

And the ingredients you'll need are:

7 lb. pork butt roast
chili powder
ground cumin
sea salt, if you have it
garlic powder, no salt and very fine like flour
chicken base
Ibarra chocolate
white flour
corn husks
MaSeCa Instant Corn Masa Mix
corn oil

Meat filling ingredients:

7lb pork butt roast, prefer boneless
1/3 cup chili powder
96 oz. chicken broth
1 Tbs. + 2 tsp cumin
2 heaping Tbs. Garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. + 2 tsp chicken base
2 triangles of Ibarra chocolate
6 heaping Tbs. flour
3/4 cup cold water

Fill the stock pot with the chicken broth and add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, chicken base and chocolate. Heat to boiling then cover and simmer on low while you cut up the pork.

Cut the pork into 1 inch cubes. Trim as much fat off as you can. I prefer chucks of tender pork in my tamales recipe instead of shredded pork. You can do it either way.

Add the cut up pork to the boiling sauce. Partially cover and simmer on low for 2 hours or until pork is real tender.

When the pork is done and very tender, combine the 3/4 cup cold water and flour with a whisk until well blended.

Turn the heat up to high and when it is boiling, slowly add the flour mixture to the pork. Stir the pork continuously to avoid lumps just like you would when making gravy.

Continue to slow boil while stiring for about 3 to 5 minutes and then turn the heat off.

Now if you are real ambitious you can start making the masa and preparing the tamales. If you would rather continue the next day, let the pork cool after cooking and then refrigerate.

let the pork sit and cool a bit while you make the masa.

Before you make the masa, soak the corn husks in warm to hot water in a bowl for 30 minutes or until they become pliable. Gently separate the husks so as not to tear them. If some are torn you can use two husks and over lap them before putting masa on them.

Masa ingredients:

4 cups MaSeCa Instant corn Masa Mix
3 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (no salt)
1 cup fresh corn oil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Put the masa, salt, and garlic powder in a large bowl and combine the dry ingredients.Then add the corn oil and mix with your hands. Now add the chicken broth 1/2 cup at a time.

Continue to mix with your hands and adding the broth until you get the consistency of cookie dough.You should have a consistency that you can spread with a knife or spreader.

If you add too much liquid you can always add a little more masa to thicken it up.

The corn husks should be soft and pliable. Take a few out and pat them dry with a paper towel or towel.

Leave the pointy end without masa so you can fold it over.

Place several chunks of pork down the center of the masa.

Fold the masa over so the ends meet.

The idea is to put just enough meat so that you can encase it in masa and not leak out. Now roll er up.

After you roll the tamale up, fold over the end like this.

Continue to make tamales and when you are done place them in a steamer with the open end pointing up.

You can put a layer of husks on the bottom of the steamer to help keep the tamales from getting wet, but I didn't have a problem without them.

Place the damp cotton towel over the top of the tamales and cover with the lid. Make sure you add just enough water to the bottom of the pan so the water doesn't touch the tamales. Check it often so the water doesn't run dry.

Get the water to boil and then turn the heat to low. Simmer/steam for 1 1/2 hours. Check the tamales by removing one and letting it cool for 5 minutes. Open the hot tamale and check that the masa is firm and not mushy.

If need be, cook a little longer and check every 15 minutes until done.

When tamales are done take them out of the pot to cool on the counter. Tongs are great for this.

Go a head and eat one. This is when they taste their absolute best.

I like to use a vacuum sealer to keep my tamales for several months in the freezer. You can also keep them in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator. Use these within a week.

After you have made your tamales, give yourself a pat on the back. The tamales recipe is perfect served with refried beans and rice.

Here is a recipe I got from a friend who lives in New Mexico. She makes tamales every year.

You make pork roast in the crock pot. Cook it until it falls apart.

Use the juice from the roast to mix the masa. You also use 1/3 of shortening and some water. You can buy the masa mix at the store.

Then you mix the shredded pork with red chile.

Spread the masa on the corn husk and add the pork to the middle of the tamale.

Roll the husk and fold the bottom of the husk and then steam for about two hours.