Tamales are a largely unknown treasure of Mexican food culture in Europe. Considering the popularity of tamales in their home country, this is quite astonishing. Mexican Cooking with Rarotonga shows you two of the countless Tamales recipe variations, one with green sauce and one with a sweet raspberry fruit filling. Tamales, which is a filled corn dough that you prepare with special Tamales corn flour. Inside you place sweet or savory ingredients, such as meat, fruits, vegetables or salsas.
The cold season in Mexico is the best time for eating Tamales. There are special traditions that virtually oblige one in the family to cook them for everyone from time to time. But more about that elsewhere.
As usual, Rarotonga explains in how to prepare everything step by step. As you know, if you are already a little more confident in Mexican cuisine, you could also choose other fillings. Many thanks to this YouTube Channel, well filled with recipes, that we may show the video here.
Now follows the recipe in the text form for the Tamales dish with Salsa Verde y Dulce. We wish you a lot of fun with your cooking experience.
Ingredients
- 1kg Tamales corn flour
- 250g vegetable fat (store at room temperature for 6 hours before)
- Corn leaves / Corn husks (which will not be eaten later)
- 200g lard (previously stored at room temperature for 6 hours)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 tbsp. salt (then add another 1 1/2 tsp. salt to the dough).
- 2 liters of broth
- *For the sweet version to 1/3 dough add 100g sugar and if necessary food coloring according to taste.
Ingredients for the Green Sauce / Salsa Verde
- approx. 800g Tomatillos / green tomatoes
- 1 Onion when cooking the broth + 1 for the mixing process
- approx. 1,9kg meat (for the broth)
- 2 liters of water
- Herbs (marjoram, 2 bay leaves, thyme)
- 1 Clove of garlic for the broth + 1 for the mixing process
- 3 Green chilies
- Salt
Ingredients for the Raspberry Sauce
- 375g fresh raspberries
- 100g sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 500g cream cheese with low salt content
Kitchen Utensils
- Pressure cooker
- Cutting board
- Knive
- Pot
- Steam cooker advantageous
- Spatula, cooking spoon
- Large bowls, containers
- Stand mixer and hand mixer
Preparation of the Tamales
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Green sauce, cook the meat in two liters of water, add herbs, salt, onion and garlic. Once the pressure cooker gives off steam turn the heat to minimum and simmer for 1 hour. Then leave to cool.
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Take the meat out of the broth let it get cool down and tear it in little parts. Strain the broth through a sieve and set aside. Put green tomatoes, green chilies, onion, garlic, cilantro, salt and a little water in a blender and puree until well minced.
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Raspberry sauce, put raspberries in a pot. Add the sugar and lemon juice and simmer. Stir occasionally until a thick sauce. if necessary, add a little water (100ml).
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Soak corn leaves for half an hour, preferably a little longer. Put the fat and lard (previously stored at room temperature for at least 6 hours) in a large bowl with a hand mixer and mix until they have a creamy consistency. Gradually continue to stir in the flour, half a spoon full of salt, the baking powder until the consistency is velvety / sandy. Then pour in the broth little by little until the consistency is creamy.
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Remove 1/3 of the dough for the sweet version and set aside. To the 2/3 portion, add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir with a spatula, using rocking motions, until the dough has a fluffy and airy consistency.
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Squeeze corn leaves and drain. Provide sauce, dough, leaves and filling and place dough on unfolded wide part of the leaf, add large spoonful of sauce, put portion of meat, take one end of the leaf and cover dough with it, at the same time roll up other end, fold other tip over back. (see video) - the same later with the sweet ingredients, where the food coloring was added, if necessary.
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Use steamer pot for Tamales. Fill water to mark, drop 3x 1 cent coins to bottom of pot. Place grid on top. Place tamales upright (opening facing up) in head in round order but not squishing. Cover pot and place on stove over high heat until they begin to steam. Then reduce heat to medium and cook for two hours. Turn off stove and let sit for another hour.
Bon Appetite!
Rarotonga, as always thank you for the video and the recipe for which you have put a lot of effort, we wish you more subscribers on your YouTube Channel (Link) or more followers on your Instagram Account (Link), so that you will bring us many more videos.
Do you like the recipe? Then write a comment below this article!
