Green Chili Tamales

Green chili tamales is a uniquely New Mexican cuisine. All other regions claiming this recipe are pirates – I’m looking at you Texas and Colorado. If you have gluten issues, tamales are a safe menu option. This is a complicated and time consuming recipe, but not that hard once you get the hang of it. If you’re not willing to cook with lard, stop now, there’s no such thing as tamales not made with lard, unless you live in Texas or Colorado but what do they know about fine cuisine? Makes ~24 tamales.

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. package of dried corn husks
  • Dough
    • 6 cups Masa harina – corn flour
    • 1.67 cups lard – I know, but it’s necessary
    • 5 cups water
    • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • Filling
    • 1.5 lbs Pork loin or chicken thighs
    • 1 Onion
    • 1 lb Tomatillos
    • 4 Roasted green chiles
    • 4 large garlic cloves – chopped
    • 1.5 TBL olive oil
    • 16 oz. Chicken broth
    • 0.67 cups chopped cilantro

Process

  1. Mise en Place – Measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Cook meat
    1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
    2. Place pork/chicken and onion in baking dish and cover with water. Bake 90 mins until pork pulls apart easily.
    3. Remove pork from liquid and reserve broth.
    4. Let meat and liquid cool.
    5. Pull meat into fine shreds.
    6. Strain liquid and skim fat from surface.
  3. Grill Tomatillos until black (charred) on all sides. Will take 5-10 mins per side
  4. Make Filling
    1. Place roasted/peeled tomatillos in food processor, along with garlic and green chili, and puree.
  5. Heat heavy skillet over Med heat,
    1. Add oil.
    2. Once warm, add puree and bring to a boil for 5 mins.
    3. Add chicken broth and mix will. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer until a paste.
    4. Stir in pork/chicken and cilantro.
  6. Dough
    1. Mix corn flour, oil, water, salt in mixer.
    2. Add additional water if necessary to make cookie-like dough.
  7. Corn Husks
    1. Place corn husks in a deep bowl and cover with hot water.
    2. Put a plate on top to keep husks submerged.
    3. Let soak for 30 mins and clean off silks.
  8. Assembly: for each corn husk, use 2 TBL filling and dough
    1. Hold husk flat with smooth side up.
    2. Spread thin layer of dough across husk – not all the way to the edges.
    3. Top with filling along center, stopping short of edges.
    4. Fold one-half over the other, enclosing the filling in the dough.
    5. Fold ends to seal and now the corn husks could be wrapped.
    6. Continue until all the ingredients are used.
  9. Steaming
    1. Arrange vegetable steamer in bottom of a large stock pot and fill with water to bottom of steamer.
    2. Turn heat on med-high.
    3. Place tamales in steamer, stand them vertical on folded edge. Leave space around each tamales for steam to rise.
    4. Cover pot and cook for 60 mins., until masa is firm and does not stick to husks.
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