It was my husband’s birthday yesterday, and he is a big fan of Mexican food. I often end up cooking him something along those lines for his birthday. This year I made from scratch tamales because we love them. Making tamales yourself is not hard, but it does take some time. I suggest making the filling and sauce the day before so you have it ready to go.
Tamales can be filled with all kinds of different fillings. This version uses red chile pork as the filling. It uses several different dried chiles – California, guajillo, and chipotle. It is made by slow cooking pork shoulder and mixing it with a delicious sauce made from these dried chiles and aromatics. You can find the masa used to make tamales at most grocery stores or online. Make sure to get masa harina and it should say used for tamales on the package. Do not get cornmeal or other ground corn product. You need the fine ground texture of the masa for these.
You also need corn husks for these. I get them online. The proper way to prepare these for making tamales is to rinse them and brush off any dirt. Discard any with mold or that don’t look good. Soak the good ones in hot water for 30-60 minutes to soften before use. Then rinse again and dry the inside with a paper towel before you put in the filling. Save the smaller ones to rip into strips to tie the tamales closed. You can also use kitchen twine for this.
Once you have prepared your husks, make the masa according to the recipe. A key thing for making the masa is to whip the fat at the beginning well to aerate it. Once you have all the ingredients mixed, drop a tsp sized ball of dough into a glass of water. If it floats, or mostly floats, go ahead. If not, mix the masa longer to incorporate more air. I usually get the masa to float maybe half way up the glass and call it done. Once you have the masa done, gather your husks, masa and filling together.
Lay out a husk with the smaller end towards you. Spread about 2-3 tbsp or so of masa in a square. Leave plenty of room around the sides to close up the tamale. Add a line of filling down the center of the masa. Use one side of the husk to bring the edge of the masa to the center and bring the other side up so the two sides meet and enclose the filling. Bring the bottom narrow end up and use a strip of corn husk or string to tie it closed at the bottom. Tie another string nearer the top if you like.
Once you have rolled up and secured your tamale, set it aside while you do the others.
You can steam tamales using a steamer basket, or if you don’t have one (I don’t), you can use a large stock pot and ball up foil balls in the bottom to make a platform to keep the tamales out of the water while you steam them. Steam them for about 60-80 minutes, checking that your pan doesn’t run dry during that time. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then unwarp and serve with hot sauce.
Hope you enjoy trying out this recipe and making tasty tamales for yourself! Check out my other Mexican recipes here.
Red Chile Pork Tamales
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 2 lbs boneless pork shoulder trimmed and cut into large cubes
- salt and pepper
- 1 while onion quartered
- 1 large carrot cut into a few pieces
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
For the red chile sauce:
- 4 California chiles stemmed and seeded
- 1 guajillo chile stemmed and seeded
- 1 dried chipotle chile stemmed and seeded
- 2 plum tomatoes halved
- 2 tomatillos halved
- 1 tbsp roasted peanuts
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- salt and pepper to taste
For the tamales:
- 30 large corn husks for tamales cleaned and soaked for 1 hr in hot water
- 1 cup fat from cooking the pork sub plain crisco or lard if you don't have enough fat
- 3 1/3 cup masa harina
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 cups pork stock from cooking the pork
Instructions
For the pork:
- Cook the pork the day before if possible because you need a few hours. Season the pork with salt and pepper and place into a large oven safe pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and bay leaves. Cover with water by 3 inches and bring to a boil. Cover and place into a 325 degree oven for 3 hours or so or until the pork is easily shredded.
- Shred the meat and strain the broth into a clean container. Discard the carrot, onion etc. Place the broth in the fridge so that you can allow the fat to set up and you can skim it off and use it for the tamales.
For the sauce:
- Place the dried chiles into a skillet over medium heat and toast them a little until they are fragrant. Don't brown or burn them. Add a cup or two of water and let them simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let them sit 30 minutes to soften them up.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and heat your oven to broil. Add the tomatoes and tomatillos and broil for 5 minutes, then stir and broil again for 5 more minutes, until they have charred spots.
- Place the tomatoes and tomatillos into the blender with the softened chiles, peanuts, garlic, black pepper, sesame seeds and cumin, along with a little broth from the chiles or the pork. Blend until smooth, then pour through a fine mesh strainer and taste and season with salt.
- When ready to make your tamales, combine the pork and sauce and cook over medium heat until the sauce is thickened and not much liquid is left. Season this mix further if needed. Set aside to cool a bit while you prepare the masa.
To prep the husks:
- Rinse all the husks and discard any that are moldy or too small or otherwise not suitable, keeping some of the small ones for tying strips. Place in a large bowl and submerge in hot water (use a plate if needed to keep them under). Leave for 30-60 minutes then drain and rinse them. Keep them covered while you are making tamales so they stay moist.
For the masa:
- Take your pork broth out of the fridge and skim all the fat off. I had about 3/4 cup and used 1/4 crisco with it to get to 1 cup of fat. Place the fat into a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and whip on medium for about 5 minutes until very light and fluffy. Whisk together the masa, baking powder and salt and add to the mixer. Mix on low until it is well mixed. This won't come fully together but that is ok. Slowly add in 2 cups of your reserved broth from cooking the pork, or you can use chicken broth or water. The dough should come together into a smooth, spongy mass. It should be spreadable but not loose.
- Test it by dropping a tsp sized ball into a glass of water. If it floats up to the top or half way up, it is good. If not, continue to mix your dough on medium for another 5-10 minutes, repeating the test until enough air is incorporated.
For the tamales:
- Spread the husks out one at a time with the narrow side facing you. Dry the inside and then spread 2 tbsp or so of masa in a square inside the husk (see pics). I use a heaping cookie scoop to measure and I prefer to spread the masa with my hands but you can also use the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.
- Place a heaping tbsp or so of filling down the center in a line. Wrap both sides of the tamale up so that the masa meets in the center and encloses the filling. Wrap the husks around the side and fold up the bottom edge to seal it. Tie it up and set aside to do them all.
- When ready, prep your steamer setup and steam for 60-90 minutes, until the tamales easily separate from the sides of the wrapper. Serve hot.
2 thoughts on “Red Chile Pork Tamales”