Tamales
A dish of pre-Columbian origin — tamales were eaten in Mesoamerica long before the Spanish arrived. There is one secret to fluffy masa and it has a simple test: the fat is beaten with the masa until a ball of dough dropped into a glass of water floats. Under-aerated masa gives a dense, heavy tamal, and once it is steamed nothing fixes it.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Soaking the husks 40 min
- Filling 50 min
- Masa 25 min
- Wrapping 30 min
- Steaming 75 min
- Resting 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the corn husks
Cover the dried husks with hot water and weigh them down with a plate so they stay submerged. Soak 40 minutes, until soft and pliable. A dry husk cracks as you wrap, and then the masa escapes into the pot.
Ingredients: 20 pcs corn husks
Weighed down, fully submerged.Poach the chicken and make the chilli sauce
Simmer the chicken in about 1.5 litres of salted water for 30 minutes, lift out and shred it, and keep the broth. Meanwhile stem and seed the dried chillies, cover them with boiling water for 20 minutes, then blend with the onion, garlic, cumin, oregano and about 150 ml of the soaking water into a smooth sauce.
Ingredients: 700 g chicken thighs · 6 pcs dried chillies · 1 pcs onion · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp cumin · 1 tsp oregano · 1½ tsp salt
Simmer the meat in the sauce
Cook the chilli sauce in a pan for 10 minutes, until darkened and thickened, stir in the shredded meat and season. The filling must be thick, not wet — sauce running out of the masa softens the parcel from inside.
Ingredients: 700 g chicken thighs · 6 pcs dried chillies · 1 pcs onion · 4 cloves garlic · 1 tsp cumin · 1 tsp oregano · 1½ tsp salt
Whip the lard until fluffy
Beat the lard with the salt and baking powder for 5 minutes, until white and fluffy like whipped cream. The air beaten in at this stage is what makes tamales light — lard simply stirred in gives a dense masa.
Ingredients: 500 g masa harina · 200 g lard · 650 ml stock · 1 tsp baking powder · 2 tsp salt
Add masa and stock, then do the water test
Add the masa harina and warm stock alternately, beating for 10 minutes. The masa should be as soft as thick hummus and spread easily; if it is stiff, add 50–100 ml more stock. Then check: drop a ball of dough into a glass of cold water — it should float. If it sinks, beat a few minutes more.
Ingredients: 500 g masa harina · 200 g lard · 650 ml stock · 1 tsp baking powder · 2 tsp salt
The ball floats — the masa is ready.Spread the masa and wrap
Spread about 4 spoonfuls of masa (about 80 g) over the wider half of a husk, 5 mm thick, leaving 3 cm clear at the bottom. Spoon filling down the middle, fold the sides so the masa closes over the filling, and fold the bottom end up.
Ingredients: 20 pcs corn husks
A thin layer of masa, sides folded inwards.Steam 75 minutes, open ends up
Stand the tamales in a steamer upright, open ends up, cover with spare husks and steam 75 minutes, topping up with boiling water. Upright, so the filling stays in. A cooked tamal pulls away from the husk cleanly — if it sticks, steam 15 minutes more.
Ingredients: 20 pcs corn husks
Rest a quarter of an hour before eating
Take the pot off the heat and leave the tamales 15 minutes, covered. Straight from the steamer the masa is soft and wet; in that time it firms up, and only then does a tamal unwrap without falling apart.
Ingredients: 20 pcs corn husks
Before you start
The water test
Simple and useful: the ball floats when it holds enough beaten-in air, and that same air expands in the steam and lightens the tamal. The lard should be at room temperature for beating — straight from the fridge it takes much longer.
Making a batch
Tamales are communal work: in Mexico several people make dozens at a time. Cooked, they freeze well; reheat them in a steamer — about 20 minutes thawed, about 40 minutes from frozen.
Sweet and vegetarian fillings
Classic variants also include tamales dulces: sweet masa with sugar, raisins and cinnamon, often tinted pink, and rajas: strips of roasted pepper with cheese. The technique stays the same; the sweet masa simply gets sugar.
