Tamales For Christmas

Weddings, birthdays, any celebration can be the perfect time to serve tamales.
They also make great gifts, my friends and family love tamales anytime of the year!

Tamales are a "labor of love". A lot of time goes into making Tamales. I already have friends standing in line waiting for me to announce that my tamales are ready.
I always have my Tamale dinner on Christmas Eve, before church. My family comes over and we feast until it is time to go to Church.

~ Tamales
~ Frijoles (Refried Beans)
~ Cheese Enchiladas
~ Homemade Tortilla Chips
~ Salsa and Guacamole
~ Green Chile
and hot chocolate with a touch of cinnamon.

Important tips:
Be sure to read the recipe first and have everything you need including a comfortable place to assemble them.

You will need a large roasting pan with a lid that will fit in your oven, a steamer, a heavy duty mixer, a place to soak the ojas, a freezer to store the finished tamales.

Never use hot water when cleaning chiles, hot water opens up the pores in your skin and lets the heat from the chile in. Also, keep your hands away from your face, eyes and nose while handling chiles. You can wear latex gloves if you have sensitive skin.

If you want to make your own masa, buy the bags of dry and follow the directions on the bag.

You will need the following to make approx 10 dozen:
9 pounds each of beef chuck roast and pork shoulder
3 bags of ojas (cornhusks)
1 Large bag of Chiles (mild or hot depending on your
taste)
12 cloves fresh garlic
2 Large chopped onions
4 pounds of lard
5 Cans black Olives Pitted
Spices: Cumino, salt, oregano
2 lbs of pre-mixed masa (in the meat section of the grocery store)
baking powder
Optional: Plastic Zip lock freezer bags and white parchment squares.

Day 1: Cook the meat and make chile sauce.
Put meat in large roasting pan, cover meat with water, squeeze 8-10 garlic cloves over meat, add chopped onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook at 350 degrees until meat is tender. About 4 hours. Cut meat into chunks or shred. Reserve the liquid broth for the chile sauce and the masa.
Chile Sauce:
Clean and wash chile pods, put pods in large pot, cover with water, cook with lid on until pods are soft. This takes about an hour. Remove chile pods from water and put into your blender. Add liquid from cooking the pods as need, blend until you have
a thickish paste. Makes 2 to 3 cups.
In a large frying pan make a roux, cover bottom of pan with fat (I like to use bacon grease) add about
2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour, stir until brown. Add the HOT broth to the meat and stir until smooth and thick. Add the chile paste. Add 2 teaspoons cumino, 2 tablespoons oregano and 4 - 5 tablespoons salt. Crush 6 cloves of garlic into sauce. Stir well, then pour over the shredded meat and put back into the oven at 250 degrees for 1 to 2 hours. Cool cooked meat mixture and put in the refrigerator overnight, the flavors will mingle and be sooooo good!

Day 2: Make the masa and assemble the tamales.
Clean ojas, open them up and soak in hot water until soft. Drain on paper towels.
Masa: Beat 1 cup of lard until fluffy. Keep beating and add 1 Tablespoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 2 lbs of masa. Add about 1/4 cup beef broth. You will need to use a heavy duty mixer for this.
Masa will have a doughy consistency and will be easy to spread.
Spread masa with spatula about 1/4" thick on the ojas, spoon meat (about two large tablespoons) onto the middle, add your black olive, fold ojas over,
wrap in parchment and place in plastic bag. Bag by the dozen and freeze. Tamales can be steamed before or after they are frozen. If giving as gifts I recommend that you steam them first. Steam tamales until masa is firm (open one and check for raw masa).

This recipe was handed down to me from my Grandma Jennie, it may be a bit choppy because she didn't have a written recipe, she had me take notes while we were cooking. I have typed this recipe from the notes I took way back in 1985. You may want to adjust some of the spices to your taste.

This year we are making pork tamales. Here is the meat with the chopped onion,
garlic, water, salt and pepper on top. It is ready to go into pre-heated oven.

The Chile pods are all cleaned and ready to be boiled. You can leave a few seeds in the mix if you want your chile a little spicier.

The sauce is almost ready to pour over the cooked meat.

The meat has been shredded and the sauce poured over it.
It is ready to go back into the oven.

Whip the lard until it is light and fluffy, then add masa, salt, baking powder and broth from the meat. Mix until masa looks doughy and spreadable.

The Ojas are soaking in hot water, drain them on towels before spreading the masa on them.

Spread a thick coat of masa on the oja, add meat (and an olive you like).
Fold and wrap in parchment.

Put tamales in steamer for approx 30 minutes, check one tamale to make sure masa is cooked all the way through.
Steamed tamales can be bagged in freezer bags and stored in the freezer for up to a year.