Until a few years ago, my mom never knew just how much I love homemade tamales---specifically hers. Thanks to my declaration of undying tamale love, my mom began a holiday tradition that involves bringing an armory of cooking hardware and ingredients to my house for an all day tamale-a-thon. This year my dear friend, Sheila Lockhart, joined us and helped assemble the delicacies while we listened to Celia Cruz and talked about our families. To me, this is what Christmas is all about---loved ones gathered together to commune over food and memories, while creating wonderful new memories.
The tamales we made were chicken (with vegetables and green olives), black bean (with cheese and jalapeños) and sweet (with piloncillo/raw sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, dark brown sugar and raisins). I can honestly eat them hot or cold, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in between. I love tamales but even more, I love my mother for continuing to pass along a piece of her cultural heritage to me and for being able to share it with Sheila this year.
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| Ancho chiles, guajillo peppers and onions are boiled until soft and then put in a blender until smooth and added to the masa (corn flour). |
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| Masa, after the chile mixture, baking powder and extremely hot oil are added. The oil must be very, very hot before it is added in order for the consistency of the masa to be just right. |
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| Corn husks are soaked in boiling water to soften them and make them pliable for the spreading of masa. Sheila prepared the majority of the husks with masa before the filling. |
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| Pickled jalapeños, carrots and onions are placed on the masa before the black bean filling is added. |
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| The once the husks are filled, rolled and tied at each end, they are put in a huge pot and steamed for about an hour or, as my mom said, "Until they are done." These are the "done" chicken tamales. Mmmm! |
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