Red Chili Pork Tamales in Banana Leaves

(about 16 tamales)

Top, Blue Corn Tamale with Vegetarian Filling.
Middle, Southern Mexican Chicken Tamale in Banana Leaf.
Bottom, Red Chili and Pork Tamale.

The pork tamales I made at the Santa Fe School of Cooking were even better than the one I sampled at the farmers market last Saturday. All three types of tamales we were taught to make were among the best I've ever tasted. The tamales in New Mexico strike me as much bolder in flavor than the ones I've tried in Texas. I'm not sure why that is because the ingredients appear to be similar. Perhaps it's those New Mexican chili pods.

We made Southern Mexican Style Chicken Tamales in Banana Leaves. These were made with rotisserie chicken smothered in a chili sauce. I loved the subtle taste the banana leaves imparted onto the masa. Blue Corn Tamales with Squash, Mushroom and Corn Filling. Blue cornmeal was added to the masa resulting in a very attractive color for these flavorful vegetarian tamales. And finally the Red Chile and Pork Tamales.

Nine of us were enrolled in the class. We formed three groups, each preparing one of the three types of tamales.

With Chef Alex Hadidi at the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

I have made a few small changes to the pork recipe because this is how I plan to make them the next time I get the chance. I really liked the "cooked" masa dough which was used for the chicken tamales and I loved the banana leaves.

Red Chili Pork Tamales
adapted from the Santa Fe School of Cooking

Pork
3 1/2 lbs pork shoulder (boneless)
2 tbsp chipotle seasoning
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups water

Combine the chipotle seasoning, salt and pepper and rub the mixture over the entire piece of pork. Sear the pork in a heavy skillet until it's browned all over.

Place the meat into a pressure cooker and add the bay leaf and water. Cook for 50 minutes at 15 pounds pressure.

Cool the meat and reserve the liquid. Remove any large pieces of fat and discard. Shred the meat using two forks or your fingers.

Red Chili Sauce
1 tsp whole cumin seed
about 7-9 dried New Mexican red chili pods or 1/2 cup ground if you can find it fresh.
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, diced fine
2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
2 1/2 cups reserved pork liquid
2 tbsp masa harina
salt, to taste

Lightly toast the cumin seed in a heavy skillet over a medium flame. They will be ready when they change color and you can smell them. Grind them fine in a coffee grinder. Set aside.

Remove the stems from the chili pods as well as the seeds. Tear the pods into small pieces and place them into the grinder. You may have to do this in batches. Grind up enough to fill half a cup. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a pot over a medium flame. Add the onion and cook for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic. Cook the mixture until the onions are translucent; about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the reserved cumin, red chili powder and oregano. Add the pork liquid (add water to make up the difference if you don't have enough pork liquid). Give everything a good stir. Reduce the flame and simmer gently for about 20 minutes (no lid).

Slowly whisk in the masa harina and cook until the mixture has thickened. Taste and add salt if needed.

Keep the sauce warm.

Pork Filling
1 1/2 lbs shredded pork, see above
1 1/2 cups red chili sauce, see above
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Add the shredded pork to the red chili sauce. Leave the pot over a low flame for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Stir in the cilantro and set aside.

Cooked Masa

4 cups water

3 cups masa harina
1/4 lb lard
1/4 lb butter
1 tsp recado rojo or achiote paste
1/2 tsp salt

Pour the water into a heavy pot and whisk in the masa harina. Gently heat this mixture over a medium flame until it comes to a boil.

Add the lard, butter, recado rojo and salt.  Cook this mixture, stirring often for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and smooth. You might have to adjust the flame.

The masa will be ready when you press a small amount onto a banana leaf and it pulls away cleanly. The consistency should be that of soft play dough.

To Assemble
1 pkg banana/plantain leaves

Defrost the package of banana leaves. Toast the individual leaves over an open flame or on a griddle until they turn shiny and become pliable.

Tear off a piece of the leaf about 1/4 inch wide for to secure the tamale package after it's been filled.

Lay the remaining leaf out flat. Place about 2-3 heaping tbsp of the cooked masa harina onto the middle of the leaf and flatten the mixture out into roughly a four inch square.

Top with about 2-3 tbsp of the shredded pork mixture. Pull together two sides of the banana leaf until the masa harina surrounds the pork filling. Fold the ends together until you have a long rectangle. Tuck in the remaining ends until you have a rectangular package. Tie the package together with the reserved piece.

Repeat until you have used up all of the filling and masa.

Place the tamales sideways into a steamer, taking care not to crowd them too much. Steam them for about 1 1/4 hours. They should come off the leaf easily when they are done.

Serve.

Pico de Gallo

(about 2 cups)

Whenever I go out for Mexican food, pico de gallo will appear in some form on the table. Sometimes it's tossed over a salad, a filling for a taco, or garnish on a plate. It always contains three ingredients; tomatoes, onion and green chili pepper. It might also contain green onion, cilantro or cucumber. Sometimes it's simply diced and on it's own, other times it might be seasoned with salt and pepper and a splash or two of fresh lime juice or vinegar. Essentially it's salsa, although what's considered salsa here (in Dallas) is usually a thin pureed sauce accompanied by tortilla chips. I love having pico de gallo with corn chips.

3 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 an English cucumber, diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
1/2 - 2 jalapeno or serrano chili peppers (to taste), seeded and diced
small handful cilantro, chopped
juice from 1 small lime
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine everything in a bowl and toss. Check and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Serve within an hour or two of combining (it will still be quite good later than that, but it will gather more liquid as time goes on).

Guacamole

(about 1 1/2 cups)

We haven't really had the brutal sort of heat I've become accustomed to this time of year. It's rained quite a bit which is really nice, but that messes with the humidity and raises those levels. Regardless, it's never entirely comfortable outside for me, so I'm tucked away inside where it's air conditioned.

The heat and humidity usually slow me down to the point where I'm not really in the mood to cook much. Today is no exception. I tossed together this guacamole instead, which came together very quickly.

2 avocados, peeled, seeded and cubed
1/4 - 1/2 clove garlic, minced (optional)
juice from 1 - 2 small key limes
a few drops of hot sauce
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small plum tomato, chopped
1/2 green onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

corn chips

Place the avocado, garlic, lime juice, hot sauce and jalapeno pepper into a bowl. Mash together with a fork. Stir in the tomato, green onion, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with corn chips.

Tamales; Chorizo and Poblano with Cheese

(makes about 26-30 tamales)

Tamales are wonderful. There's lots of varieties you can make by adding seasonings to the dough and swapping in various fillings. They freeze well, so it never hurts to double the recipe and make a bunch of them in one go.

I made these with 2 fillings; chorizo, and poblano with cheese. If you'd rather stick with one, then just double the filling you prefer.

about 30 dried corn husks

Soak the corn husks in water overnight.

dough
1 cup lard, shortening or unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
4 cups masa harina
2 - 2 1/2 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth or water (aprox.) room temperature


Beat the the lard, shortening or butter until light and fluffy.

Beat in the baking powder and salt, then beat in the masa harina a 1/4 cup at a time until it's used up.

Beat in the chicken broth slowly until the mixture forms a very soft, but not sticky dough.
The dough can be stored up to 2-3 days wrapped and refrigerated at this point.

chorizo filling (for 1/2 the dough)
1  1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 large  sweet onion, diced
1/2 lb chorizo

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and saute until it softens. Add the chorizo and fry until it's cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

poblano and cheese filling (for 1/2 the dough)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 ear corn, shucked
1 cup Queso Oaxaca or Monterey Jack (about 5 oz), small cubes
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and garlic and saute until they soften. Add the peppers and corn and continue to cook until they soften as well. Remove from heat and alow to cool.

Stir in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

to assemble

Spread a thin layer of dough over a corn husk leaving about 1/2" free space along the long sides and about 2 inches at both ends. Add about a heaping tablespoon of filling over the centre of the dough and fold the long sides (and dough) around the filling. Fold the edges underneath.

They can be frozen at this point.

Place the tamales into a steamer and steam for about 50-60 minutes.

sour cream to accompany

Serve with sour cream.

Chorizo and Scrambled Eggs

(serves 2)

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 red or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green onion, sliced
1/4 lb chorizo
4-5 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tbsp milk
1-2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

tortillas


Heat the oil in a skillet and fry the bell pepper until it begins to soften. Add the onion and chorizo, breaking the mixture up as it cooks with a wooden spoon until the chorizo is cooked through.

Combine the eggs and milk and pour that into the skillet over the chorizo mixture. Cook, stirring the eggs into the chorizo until the eggs are set, but still moist.

Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro. Serve immediately with tortillas.

Corn & Flour Tortillas

(about 8 large or 12 small tortillas)

I couldn't decide whether to make corn or flour, so I ended up combining the flours.
1 cup unbleached flour, perhaps a tbsp or so more
1 cup masa harina
1/4 cup lard, shortening or unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 - 1 cup warm water

Place 1 cup flour, masa harina, lard, shortening or butter, baking powder and salt in a bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade. Pulse a few times to combine the ingredients.

Pour about 3/4 of a cup of warm water down the chute with the motor running.

Add either a bit more water or flour until you have a soft dough ball which leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly. Run another minute or so, or remove the dough and knead it a bit. Cover and allow to rest for about 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 to 12 balls. Either roll each one out or flatten them in a tortilla press between 2 pieces of parchment paper.

Cook the tortillas, one at a time in a hot ungreased skillet, about 1-2  minutes on each side. Adjust the temperature if necessary to keep them from burning.

Homemade Chorizo (raw)

(about 1 lb of raw sausage meat)

I love chorizo. It's a spicy sausage usually made from pork. I had never tried it before moving to Texas where I've had it served to me as a side, scrambled in eggs, in soup, as fillings..   yet I had never actually cooked with it.

When I decided to make some tamales this weekend, I thought chorizo would make a nice filling. Trying to decide which package of chorizo looked better at the grocery store, I did as I always do in those situations, I checked out the ingredients. Pork salivary glands, pork lymph nodes, pork fat... what? All of a sudden I didn't feel like chorizo tamales anymore.

I felt stupid because I love the taste of chorizo and usually I don't shy away from the ingredients. I know what's in haggis for heaven's sake and I still eat the stuff, lol. I'm usually willing to try most things at least once. (At the moment the only things that come to mind that I don't care for, are tripe and brains [texture] and chitterlings [can't stand the smell].)

When I got home I decided to google chorizo and get a bit more information. Although I didn't come across a single recipe that called for salivary glands, I did find mention of it in wikipedia, "Chorizo can be made from a variety of meat cuts, including lips, lymph nodes, and salivary glands.

The following is a recipe I found on Chow which I changed up a little bit.


1 pound ground lean pork
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp hot paprika
2 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp lemon zest, finely minced

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly and refrigerate at least overnight to give the flavours a chance to blend together.

Use or freeze.

Chicken Mole

(6 servings)

Since moving to Texas, I have discovered there are endless varieties of chicken mole to be found. This Mexican dish features a complex sauce made of chilies, nuts and chocolate.

I have no idea how authentic my version is. It's come about from trying different recipes and making adjustments here and there until I had something I was happy with. The chilies I use are pretty mild; if you prefer something hotter, then feel free to swap them out. This recipe doubles easily and freezes well.

2 dried ancho chilies
2 dried mulato chilies
1 dried pasilla chili
1 1/2 cups hot water

1 tsp canola oil
1/4 cup green pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds

1 tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon

4 roma tomatoes, quartered
1/3 cup raisins

1 cup chicken broth
2 disks Mexican chocolate or 3 oz unsweetened chocolate

12 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, try to get fairly large ones

Heat a skillet over medium heat and toss in the dried chilies. Toast them until they begin to smell smoky. Remove from heat and transfer the chilies to the hot water to soak for about 30 minutes or until they have softened. Sometimes I do this the day before and let them soak in the water overnight.

Return the skillet to the heat and add the teaspoon of oil.  Add the pumpkin seeds, almonds and peanuts, and stir until they begin to warm up. Add the sesame seeds and continue to stir until the nuts are lightly toasted and you can smell them. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Heat a tablespoon of oil a large dutch oven or heavy pot and add the onions and garlic. Saute over low heat until the onions are a nice medium brown; about 10 minutes. Stir in the salt, cumin and cinnamon.

Remove the chilies from the water and reserve the liquid. Remove the stems and seeds from the softened chilies.

To the bowl of a food processor, transfer the toasted nuts, softened cleaned chilies, the chili water, tomatoes and raisins. Process until smooth.

Transfer the processed mixture to the softened onions, and stir in the broth. Cook over medium heat until the mixture simmers. Add the chocolate and stir until it has melted. Set the heat to low and cover with a tight fitting lid. Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, checking and stirring from time to time.

Add the chicken, stir, cover and cook over low heat for an additional 40 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Serve with rice and salad.