Every year, my mother, aunt, two sisters and I get together
to make tamales before Christmas. This
is such a popular event with Hispano families throughout the entire world
around Christmas. We have made tamales
for many years and in our region, the most familiar tamale is red chile corn
masa stuffed with simmered and shredded pork shoulder marinated in more red
chile (or for some, chile colorado) all wrapped together in a corn husk. We made these and got creative with a few
others. One of which, I will be sharing
its recipe. At first, I thought I would
not share it because some things should be kept within the family. However, tamales are such a worldly food, it
is really the basic elements that we keep and their ingredients continuously
change. In fact, tamales have popped up
in the Mississippi Delta, so really here in NM, we are not reinventing the
wheel, but I am not claiming this to discredit any cultural context of Latin
American countries but instead I want to impress how strong this cultural event
has influenced the entire world to embark on tamale making.
Early tamales were traced back as early as 8000 BC in
Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and Mayans are believed to have used them as a food for
necessity for travelers. It was a
portable, starchy, and had some kind of protein element. Later around 1200 BC, tamales were used as a
food commemorating important feasts and status—including and excluding certain
members of society (LeCount 2001). This
might be why I don’t want to share the recipe. You know, keeping it within the
family. Well thousands of years later,
the tamale is still a food commemorating a feast although in Mexico City, tamales
are a comfort food staple for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are made with a
variety of ingredients.
Our little group makes tamales by the dozens and has a great
time doing it. We have never referred to
it as a tamalada, but in essence that is exactly what it is. After we prepare them, we steam a few for us
to eat and this year we had quite the selection. Of course we made the
traditional and regional pork marinated in chile Colorado. My mom also made a green chile chicken
style. My aunt made a few stuffed with
calabacitas and cheese. I made two sweet
varieties: Dark chocolate, with a
coconut, almond, mocha filling and a white chocolate anise with dried fruit and
walnut filling. One of our biggest
surprises is that they paired up with a red wine really well. We had a great time sipping wine and eating
tamales, kids playing peacefully, and laughing about how my stepfather has an
uncanny resemblance to Foghorn Leghorn.
Until next year. Merry Christmas!!
 |
| Don't hate me because I drink box wine |
References:
LeCount,
Lisa J. 2001. “Like Water for Chocolate: Feasting and Political Ritual among
the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize.” American Anthropologist
103 (4) (December 1): 935-953. doi:10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.935.
and Wikipedia.
Elements for white chocolate anise tamales with dried fruit
filling (I have only made this once and did not use measuring cups so all of
this is approximately done by purely eyeballing it. Good Luck) As I make this,
my measurements might change. Please let me know if you run into problems.
For the masa
4 cups of Maseca
1 tbls of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of anise seeds
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
2 cups of milk
1 cup of half and half (you could use cream, but this was
all I had)
2 cones of panocha sugar (find in Mexican food stores, ½ cup
brown sugar if you can’t find it)
5 star anise
3 oz of white chocolate chopped
1 tlbs vanilla extract
For the filling
1 12oz bag of dried apricots (chopped)
2 cups of toasted walnuts
6 oz of dried cranberries
1 tbls cinnamon
1 jar of apricot preserves
2 shots of whiskey (optional)
1 cup of brown sugar
1-2 bags of dried corn husks
Method
Fill sink with hot water and place husks in to soften. Warm milk, cream, panocha sugar, and star
anise over low heat. Do not boil. When
panocha is dissolved and milk is hot to touch, pour over white chocolate and
mix until melted. Add vanilla and discard star anise. Let mixture cool. Meanwhile, blend dry
ingredients together. Add butter and mix
with mixer or hand. I smoosh it around
with my hand. Add chocolate mixture and
mix until it becomes pasty. Set aside.
Combine all the ingredients for the filling until it becomes
a sticky mess.
Once corn husks are softened, wipe off excess water. Spread about
1 heaping tablespoon of masa onto lower half portion corn husk. This takes
practice, I use my hand, my sister has more skills and uses a spoon. Fill it with another heaping tablespoon of
filling. Fold up husk around it. If you cannot fold the husk, then you have put
in too much filling or spread the masa too thick. Improvise.
Steam tamales for about 45 minutes or until firm.
