The Tamale Making Party

During our previous supper club meeting, the topic of tamales came up and how much work they are to make. We decided that this would be a fun activity to do as a group and the idea for this month's supper club meeting was born.

Tamales are not a light entree as the Masa dough has to contain a fair amount of lard in order to achieve the traditional texture and taste. We decided that we would keep the traditional Masa dough, but try to make the fillings and side dishes lighter. After reading through the Authentic Mexican cookbook by Rick Bayless, I decided that I would use his recipe for Masa dough as well as his recipe for chicken with tomatillo sauce for the filling. Some of these recipes may be found on the Rick Bayless web site. The Masa dough was formed by soaking quick grits in boiling water for 10 minutes, then mixing in Masa flour and salt. Once the mixture has come to room temperature, fresh pork lard is whipped in the mixer until light. The Masa flour and grit mixture is beaten slowly into the whipped lard alternating with chicken broth, until the mixture is the consistency of thick cake batter and all of the Masa and grits mixture has been incorporated. Baking powder and salt are added to finish off the Masa dough.

By using poached and shredded chicken breasts and home-made tomatillo sauce with no added fat, I was able to keep the filling for this savory tamale on the lighter side. Rick's tamales are also much smaller than a traditional entree tamale, these were more of an appetizer size which keeps the calories lower as long as you don't eat too many of them! Along with the chicken filling, we also had a mushroom and goat cheese filling contributed by Lauren. [Lauren here - I used a recipe from an Oregon Newspaper called the MailTribune. The only fat in the recipe was olive oil and the goat cheese. I tried to use as little of the oil as I could get away with when cooking the mushroom onion mixture. Here is the link to the recipe I used.] We wrapped the savory tamales in soaked corn husks and stacked them in a large steamer for cooking. With six of us working, we made quick work of the assembly of the tamales!

[Lauren again - I took the leftover mushroom mixture, which was supposed to make 12 medium to large tamales home, I am using it as a base for a sausage saute tonight! I used button, cremeni, oyster, and shitake mushrooms forthe mix.]

When the savory tamales were done being assembled, we made some sweet tamales out of pumpkin Masa dough which Kim brought. Kim made the pumpkin masa first by rehydrating Maseca brand masa harina for tamales according to Rick Bayless's instructions in his Mexican Kitchen book. The basic recipe is 1 3/4 cups dried masa harina for tamales with 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. hot water, allowed to cool. Since the pumpkin tamale recipe called for 4 1/2 cups masa, Kim made 2 1/8 times the recipe.


Pumpkin Ginger Tamales with spicy apple salsa from Lori Selden, Mexican Radio, Valley Table Issue 33

Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 1/2 cups corn masa or tamale corn mix, freshly prepared
2 cups roasted pumpkin puree
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup whole milk (1% milk was actually used)
2 rounded tablespoons freshly grated ginger root
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium high for 5 minutes (used a Kitchenaid mixer with a paddle attachment in place of the food processor).

Add the salt, cayenne, cinnamon and cloves. Continue creaming for 7 addional minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.

Meanwhile, place the freshly prepared masa in a large bowl and add the pumpkin puree, baking powder and milk. Mix until well combined.

Add this mixture 1/4 cup at a time to the food processor. Continue to process for several minutes until light and fluffy..

Spoon about 1/2 cup of the masa mixture on the surface of the corn husk or banana leaf. Press down and flatten into an even layer. Spoon 1/2 to 1 teaspoon chopped pecans down the center of the pressed masa, then top nuts with another teaspoon of the masa mixture.

Spicy Apple Salsa (Kim made 1/4 recipe of the salsa and it was plenty)

1 stick unsalted butter
10 tart cooking apples (Northern Spy, Jonathan or Empire), peeled, small dice (Red Delicious and MacIntosh are not recommended - Kim used Granny Smiths
1/2 medium red onion, small dice
1 medium sweet red pepper, small dice
4 tablespoons spiced dark rum
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 to 2 tablespoons adobo sauce (available in Latino markets, or with chipotles)

Melt the butter in a large saute pan. When butter is bubbling, add apples, onions and red pepper.

Cook over medium heat until apples brown slightly and begin to soften. Remove pan from heat and add rum.

Return pan to heat and add brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and adobo and stir gently. Continue cooking over low heat for 5 minutes. Taste salsa: it should be sweet, creamy and spicy. Add more butter if needed

Roasted Pumpkin Puree

1 3-4 pound pumpkin (should yield 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups pumpkin puree)

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove all seeds and stringy fibers. Place the halves cut side down in a roasted pan and pour in about an inch of water. Bake in 400 degree oven until the flesh is tender, about 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, turn the pumpkin halves cut-side up to cool.

Scoop the flesh from the skin and either puree in a food processor or mash by hand. Transfer the puree to a sieve lined with paper towels or cheesecloth and let drain for 1 to 2 hours (until the puree can hold its shape on a spoon), stirring occasionally.



The pumpkin Masa dough is spread onto steamed banana leaves, sprinkled with toasted, chopped pecans and then wrapped up in a square and tied with string.



Both the savory and sweet tamales were steamed about 1 1/2 hours. While we waited for the savory tamales to cook, we sipped some Cooking Light Amaretto Margaritas ...

and ate appetizers of guacamole and chips brought by Cindy ... (this is Cindy... Click here for the link to the guacamole recipe)

and hot artichoke dip on baguette slices brought by Christine.


After working our way through the appetizers and drinks and with more time to go on the tamales, we played a few rounds of the Foodie Fight trivia game. We didn't finish the game, but we declared Lauren the queen of trivia as she missed very few questions!






Finally, the savory tamales were done! They were tender and delicious and well worth the work.

After a short rest to digest, we moved on to our first dessert which was a delicious and unusual Cooking Light Capriotada (Mexican Bread Pudding) brought by Dani...

and the pumpkin tamales we had made, served up with a apple salsa.

We had a great time and agreed that making tamales together made the process easy and fun!

- Rebecca