Tamales date back to the Aztecs.. and are as common in Mexico as the sandwich is here.

Believe it or not *my* first tamale came out of a can… these are not canned tamales. The recipe is easy.. what’s hard about this to me, is the rolling and the steaming.  I’ve never steamed anything in my life until I made these. The one thing I wish is that my pictures were better “looking”.    But..this is what I have to work with.. tamales are not pretty.. but they are delicious.

Here are 2 Tamales.. the top is a chicken the bottom a beef. They are sitting on their husks.  I opened these up,

turned to get the camera and one of my children ate part of each!

So here are the players..

**For the Meat**

large Roast or brisket (3-4 lbs cooked)

2 Pablano Chilies (diced)

1 onion (diced)

3 packages or about 1cup of your favorite taco seasoning

4 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 cup of water

**For the Masa**

32 oz of Beef stock.

4 cups of Masa harina (dry corn flour)

3 sticks of butter

1 1/2 tablespoons of salt

Package of dry corn husks

Chop up the meat and put it in a large pan.

Cut the top off of the pablano chili.. then rinse out the inside.  This isn’t a hot pepper, but if you breath

it all in right now, it will burn a little.  If you like your stuff a little spicy keep the seeds.  If not make sure you clean them out.

.

Dice the chilies

Onion

and mince the garlic.

Put them all in the pan with the meat….

Add just a couple of tablespoons of oil.. and start cooking over medium heat.

Add the taco seasoning with about 1/2 cup of water.

The meat will look like this when it’s done..

Now it’s time to take a love break…

#5.. giving his mother some love.

It’s time to make the Masa Dough!

Use a large pan; add the corn husks and water to the pan.  You may need to weigh them down by putting a bowl or something on top of the husks.

Put the butter, masa harina, and salt in a bowl and start mixing.  Once the butter is all mixed in,

start adding the beef stock.  It should look like a thick frosting when it is done.

I like to use Pampered Chef Scoop, and scoop out the dough onto the husks.  I spread the dough out

sometimes with my hands and sometimes with a spoon or rubber scrapper.

You need to leave enough room on the sides and edges so you can roll it and tie the ends.

Put some meat in the middle of your dough… make the 2 long ends meet together, roll , and tie the 2 short ends.

You can tie them with either strips of corn husks or string.

Add them to your steamer, and steam for 30- 40 minutes or until the dough is cooked.