These instructions were created to help guide you on how to best use the Tamale Pack sold by Everybody’s Family Fruit. However, this can be adapted to fit a variety of tamale styles/recipes.
How to Make Tamales
Corn Husks:
Soak in water for a few hours and rinse in hot water, removing any fibers on the husks. Dry each husk carefully.
Prepare Sauce:
Bring Chiles to a boil. Add to blender, use chicken broth, or chicken bouillon for flavor. Add any additional spices you wish to add (Salt, pepper, cumin, oregano etc). Strain your sauce (This is an important step to remove seeds and skin from chiles).
*Save a little sauce to add to your masa for color.
Meat:
Cook your meat of choice. Once the meat is cooked you can mix in the sauce.
*If you choose to add any vegetables to your tamales, slice and prepare them.
Prepare Masa:
Knead the masa until it is soft and easily spreadable *The masa in this kit is completely prepared and ready for use however, if you wish to add some lard (Manteca) you can add in a few spoon fulls depending on the consistency you wish to acquire.
Time to put the tamales together!
- Begin adding the masa to your corn husk, spreading it evenly on the inside.
- Add your meat (and any other ingredients-vegetables etc) to the center of the masa. Fold the sides of the corn husk wrapping the masa around the filling. Fold the other end of the tamale up and place them in your steamer of choice, open end up.
- Cook for 45-50 minutes or until masa is firm. (They will continue to cook and harden up a bit once they are removed from the steam)
Allow them to cool and ENJOY!