Recipe - Tamales (Basic)

2 cup Water
12 tablespoon Butter
2 cup Masa harina
1 One half teaspoon Baking powder
Three fourths teaspoon Salt
18 Corn husks (up to 25)
2 cup Tamale filling
8 tablespoon Melted butter; kept warm
1 cup Fresh cilantro sprigs

Use fresh corn husks if available. Dried should be soaked 30 minutes until
soft.

FILLINGS: see *Creamed Corn and Cheese and/or *Black Bean and Plantain
Tamale Filling

Place the water and butter in a saucepan and heat until the butter melts.

Place the masa harina, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and stir
with a fork to mix well. Whisk in the water and butter, beating well as you
go, until you have a mixture the consistency of a wet cake batter. Don't
worry if it seems too wet at first; it will thicken as you work.

Pour about 2 inches of water into a steamer or other large pot (see Note)
and bring to a boil.

Shake the corn husks to dry them a bit. Select 12 husks large enough to
roll into a tube 1 to 1One half inches in diameter and lay them out on a
counter. (Or select smaller husks and overlap two or three for each
wrapper.) Place a full One fourth cup of the batter in the center of each husk and
press it into a rectangle about 4One half by 2One half inches and One fourth inch thick.
If filling the tamales, spread 2 tablespoons of the filling down the center
of the batter. Roll up the husks lengthwise to enclose the filling. Fold
the pointed ends under to the seam side.

Arrange the tamales, seam side down, in 1 or 2 layers on the steamer rack
or a plate. Set the rack or plate in the pot and cover the tamales with a
thick layer of husks. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Steam
the tamales until cooked through, about 1 hour. The filling will no longer
be moist and sticky and will pull away from the husks.

Serve the tamales warm in the husks to be unwrapped as eaten, accompanied
by the warm melted butter and cilantro sprigs on the side.

Without filling: PER SERVING: 237 cals, 19.7 g fat (72.6% cff)

NOTE: you can easily jerryrig a steamer for tamales. You need a large pot
with a lid, 1 or 2 cans, both ends removed, and a plate or rack that will
fit inside the pot. Fill the pot with about 2 inches of water. When ready
to cook, set the cans in the pot to hold the plate above the water level
Arrange the tamales on the plate, set it on the cans, and cover the pot.

(1995) ISBN 0811804755 Chronicle Books, San Fran

Recipe by: Vegetarian Table: Mexico / Victoria Wise

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #924 by KitPATh phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on
Nov 25, 1997