Christmas Tamales

Tamales are a traditional staple for Mexican holidays, including Christmas. This year we decided to host Christmas dinner for our families and make smoked pork and green chile & cheese tamales - and it was a success!



We made the batter from 3.5 C Masa Harina (ground dried corn flour), 1.25 C Crisco *yum* and about 2 C chicken stock. We blended those ingredients together in our stand mixer with a 2 t salt and 1.5 t baking powder until the batter was light and fluffy. We put the batter in the fridge for about an hour - which was recommended to get the fluffiest result.

Meanwhile we made two different salsas: spicy arbol and salsa verde.

Arbol Salsa:
20 dried arbol chiles seeded
1 dried Guajillo chile
4 tomatillos
3 cloves garlic
2 T olive oil
salt to taste
*Toast the chiles for 30 seconds in the oil, then brown the tomatillos and garlic. Blend all ingredients together and add water to desired thickness

Salsa Verde:
1 lb of tomatillos
2 cloves garlic
.5 C cilantro chopped
2 Serrano chiles
salt to taste
*Boil the tomatillos for about 10 minutes, then blend all ingredients to a smooth, but not runny texture.



Once our guests arrived we began to make the tamales! We soaked dried corn husks in boiling water until they were pliable (about 30 minutes) and were ready to assemble. Ethan's dad kindly donated some smoked pork butt (hehe, butt) he had made at an earlier date - it was very delicious. The pork tamales had the masa batter, smoked pork and Arbol salsa.



For the green chile & cheese we chopped up some Hatch chiles we bought from Bristol Farms on a special annual sale. They are grown only in Hatch, New Mexico and are only in season a couple week out of the year, so it's a very rare chile to have. We piled on some sliced Monterey Jack cheese, the chiles and the salsa verde. We wrapped up the husks and tied them closed.



We then steamed all the tamales together in a pot with a steamer basket for about 2 hours. We served them with black beans and cabbage salad. On the table were both salsas, cotija cheese and sour cream. The dinner was delicious and fun to make. We all later enjoyed some spiked eggnog and decadent brownies made by my sister.



Merry Christmas everyone!!