Tamales are a personal favorite. Every South American country has their own version, using different types of corn and fillings. The Cuban version uses maiz criollo, which is a specific version of yellow corn which is slightly sweet, and pork. Maiz criollo cannot be found in a typical market, but it is very easy to find in South Florida or cities with large Cuban populations. I believe this recipe can work with regular corn meal, but I heard from someone that maiz criollo yields the best results.
I'm going to be honest, I did not understand the first line of recipe. She says to add water to the corn then to strain it. I don't know if she meant to keep the liquid or the remaining corn (which comes out flavorless after straining). So I modified it a little bit by keeping the strained liquid and adding half the corn (as seen in the recipe below). The original recipe in Spanish is provided at the end, so feel free to interpret it as you please.
--------------------------------------------------------
Time: 2-2.5 hours
Makes 8 servings
TAMALE EN HOJA
3 cups ground corn meal (maiz criollo preferentially)
1 cup water
1 lb. pork chunks
3 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 green pepper
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup cooking wine (vino seco)
1½ tbsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
Prep:
- Dice green pepper into very small chunks.
- Mince the onions and garlic very finely by using a grater, food processor, or blender.
- Cube the pork chunks into small pieces, about 1/2 inch in size.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to low heat. This will be used to boil the tamales once they are ready to cook.
Directions:
- Mix the ground corn and water well, then strain liquid very well into a large bowl. Throw the fibers away, the liquid will be base of the tamale (if you want a more grainy tamale, you can incorporate half of the corn back into the liquid or skip the straining process all together).
- In a saucepan, add oil and sauté the pork on medium heat until well cooked and almost crispy. Remove pork from pan and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan.
- Bring the heat to low, then fry the diced garlic, onion, green pepper, tomato sauce, and cooking wine in the fat. Once well cooked and soft, mix back in the pork.
- Add this mixture to the corn and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Put the mixture into corn husks or banana leaves and tie up with twine.
- Cook them in a pot of boiling water for 1 to 1.5 hour, until ready to serve (alternatively, you can cook them in a pressure cooker set to 15 lbs. of pressure for 10 to 15 minute).
Notes & Comments:
- These were surprisingly very easy to make, and fun! Definitely a keeper, and a nice recipe to experiment with and customize.
- I have always had tamales a little bit grainy, so that is why I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit.
- I have seen some recipes where people get an ear of corn, remove the kernels with a knife, then blitz them in a food processor. This is then used as the base.
- You can adjust the amount of onion and green pepper to your liking. I tweaked this recipe with ½ green pepper and ¾ of a large onion.
- I would also add a little more salt next time, maybe about 2 to 2.5 tbsp.
- If you cannot find corn husks or banana leaves, I've heard that some people use aluminum foil.
- If you can find them, ají cachucha are a common substitute for the green pepper. These are very small, but sweet, pepper. Just cut them very finely.
---------------------
Receta Original:
---------------------
TAMAL EN HOJA
3 tazas de maíz molido
1 taza de agua
1 lb. masa de puerco*
3 dientes de ajo
1 cebolla
1 ají
½ taza salsa de tomate
¼ taza vino seco
1 lb. masa de puerco*
1 ½ cda. de sal
¼ cdta. de pimienta
Mezcle el maíz molido con el agua y cuélelo todo.
Sofría las masas de puerco y en la grasa que sueltan haga un sofrito con ajo, cebolla, ají, tomate y vino seco. Añada todo esto al maíz. Sazónelo con sal y pimienta. Ponga la mezcla en hojas o en moldecitos para tamales. Cocínelos en agua hirviendo durante una hora. En olla de presión a 15 libras de presión durante 10 o 15 minutos. De aproximadamente 8 tamales.
*She put 1 lb. masa de puerco on the list twice. It's the same.
Comments
Post a Comment