Tamales!

[KimberlyH]

Date: 12/23/2007 12:22:37 PM
Author: Miranda

Date: 12/23/2007 10:27:32 AM
Author: KimberlyH
Wow, Mara, you are way ahead of me. I''m writing a paper now, so that after breakfast I can get back to work.

The sweet tamales sound delicious. The mole sauce sounds really good too.

My cheat this year was not making the sauces from scratch. I''m using a red and a green chile sauce, both Las Palmas. I make the dough from scratch, that''s the first thing I need to do this morning; we''ve run out.

We''re tying our with kitchen twine, not husks. The husks were too difficult last year, so we switched and it''s easy and secures them well. We steam them because we give them away as gifts, so people only have to warm them up.

Post pictures if you get a chance, I''d love to see yours.

Oh Kimberly, you are like 1/2 hour away from me!!!! Wanna come over for xmas dinner??? I''d be happy to sample your tamales!

You guys are amazing! I can''t even imagine making tamales! That sauce sounds divine Mara. It reminds me of the movie Chocolat (with Johnny Depp) where the woman puts all kinds of interesting things in her chocolates and they taste like no other chocolate.

Miranda, my husband just ate one for lunch, you could have joined him! He said they came out great!

So assembly is all done and I''m steaming the second to the last batch. I packaged the salsa John made and now I need to finish up cookie stuff (decorating and packaging).

Mara''s sauce does sound delicious. Too bad we can''t tamale swap!

 

[Linda W]

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hungry for TAMALES!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Linda

 

[door knob solitaire]

Lynn B...

I am sorry I just went back and found your post and question. I tossed the last box as my freezer is stuffed full and I need every square inch. Tamales are not a low calorie item. You have the high carbs of the corn probably 22-27 carbs...and I think the calorie is at least 290 to 360 each I think. Fat of the cheese(green chili and cheese)...about 9 to 13 grams...and usually high in sodium because the masa is bland without the addition. (of course using meat...beef and pork will increase the fat count). All in all...not a healthy item. But a tasty treat! I will look the next time I am in Target or out of my stock. §

ETA: I did an internet search trying to locate the info the best I came up with was Calorie King using Traders Joes tamale. He was 18 fat, 27 carb, 5pro at 290 calorie so I guess I am off in my guessing a tad in the fat count.

 

[monarch64]

Mara, I hope your tamales turn out, (I'm sure they will) you've put so much love and effort into this whole process that this will undoubtedly be a Christmas to remember for all involved in your family/friends/neighbors who get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I can't think of a better gift than what you've done...and I'm sure your mother and grandmother are super proud of you, not to mention Greg, your dad, well...everybody! Great job, I am so impressed that you took it upon yourself to make the effort and try to give everyone a great meal. This is what Christmas is all about...you have really outdone yourself and I just wanted to commend you and wish you a very Merry Christmas, my friend! Happy Tamale Christmas, and I hope Santa/Greg/Whiteflash or whoever doubles the value of your cooking efforts as far as your stocking gift this year!!! Muah!

PS...can you teach me how to make a veggie version of tamales someday? Let's say...February or March when there is less demand for your recipe? LOL! You go, Miss Mara! (And I bet you looked very stylish while doing all of the cooking, hee hee!)

(eta: jUICY COUTURE SWEATSUIT, HAVIANAS, FRENCH MANI/PEDI, LOL!)

 

[Mara]

lol monnie..what a cute post, thanks so much for the kudos. i am really proud of myself actually. AND its so funny you mention stylish because while i don''t think of it like that, i had to stop and go hmmm well i WAS wearing burgundy velour juicy pants and a jcrew vintage waffle 3/4 sleeve thermal with white portia''s screen printed on it (love their vintage waffle thermals, i just ordered 2 more online)....so if that''s stylish while in the kitchen, then sign me up! haha.

so...tamale update!! i have images on my camera but have not uploaded them yet...i''ll try to do so later today when all the tamales are cooked. but we cooked/steamed the sweet ones yesterday and YAY they came out fabulously!!!! they are super tiny, like think finger sized, so i had 2 and greg had 1 as a snack. i only got about 25 of them made, so they will be gone FAST. but it''s good because i''m sure the sweet ones are not remotely healthy as they are SO amazingly good hehehe.

i''ll be steaming one batch each of the chicken and beef ones today for our xmas eve immediate family dinner...so will report back on how those turn out but i am buoyed by the sweet tamale results thus far!!

 

[Mara]

okay i finally uploaded pictures of my works in progress. i mostly only caught a lot of the beef creation and not the chicken. but it's the same process. there are bunch of them!! hope everyone likes them.

oh and random note but while everything came out great (and i am picky so i am very happy!)...the chicken was everyone's favorite....typically my family does beef/pork so we are all used to those but the chicken was something different and so people liked them. all in all i am VERY jazzed with the results, and can't wait to eat them for the next few days.

the beef straight out of the crockpot.

 

[Mara]

the shredded meat...

 

[Mara]

after cooking the pork in the crockpot, mixing the meats together, and adding grandma''s famous red sauce.

 

[Mara]

the prepared masa dough in the kitchen aid ready to be added to and whipped into shape.

 

[Mara]

after adding some EVOO, beef broth from the cooked meat, a bit of the sauce for color, and baking powder....and beating with the kitchen aid for 15 minutes. yes that''s a long time!!

 

[Mara]

the assembly station!

 

[Mara]

assembled and ready to be cooked!

 

[Mara]

steaming!!

 

[Mara]

beautiful finished product. i think these are actually the sweet, not the beef...it's so hard to tell from the photos. the beef are slightly larger.

 

[Mara]

two more shots...of the sweet.

the filling all plumped up with rum.

 

[Mara]

closeup!! YUM these are amazing!!!

 

[Joolskie]

Mara.. you go girl!!!! Those tamales look absolutely scrumptious! YUM!

 

[steph72276]

Yum! Those look so good....great photographs too!

 

[Kaleigh]

They look devine, you did a great job!! I knew you would!!

 

[door knob solitaire]

Beautiful! Artfully done. You are the master. Your first time...phooey! You are an old pro aren''t you? Greg has quite the little home maker. Great job! §

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies!! it was a lot of fun actually. funny DKS but i never used to cook at all....i have really only started cooking in the last 3-4 years...mostly when i started working in sales and worked from home part of the time, i could be home and make dinner for us so i definitely learned a lot in those 2 years...and now i love cooking but i don't often do it just for us 2...it's too time consuming to make big meals that just us two eat. i love having parties though, and this tamales thing was right up my alley. my grandma always laments that my mom didn't get the cooking gene from her (my grandma's food is all wonderful, she can make anything taste great)...so she is always so happy when i make things and cook for parties and stuff.

i am currently steaming the last batch of the beef and pork, there are 25 in the pan! we are going to our neighbors/friends for dinner tomororw night..her parents are visiting from slovakia and her dad is a chef. he has been making some fabulous things we've gotten to sample, and they had us over for dinner one night. so tomorrow night they'll have appetizers and cake and we'll have tamales for them! should be fun.

kimi are you out there, if so, got any pictures?! hehe.

 

[monarch64]

Everything looks wonderful, Mara...good for you for making the effort and having everything turn out so well! I hesitate to show DH this thread even though I want to...he''ll be asking why I don''t attempt something like this, LOL! Seriously, though, I''m happy for you and your family and friends that you got to share such a special meal with all of them, what a great Christmas you''re having!!!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

Mara- luv the play-by-play pics of the tamale process!

Had some yummy tamales on xmas eve and again last nite. Our friend took a stab at making them himself, and they were delish! My favorite was the green chile and cheese, but the soy ones (he''s a vegetarian) were pretty good.

I''m getting hungry just thinking about them!

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Oh sure. Thanks a lot. Here I am - no dinner yet - wasn''t hungry when I opened this thread and now I am! Snarl!

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 12/26/2007 6:56:02 PM
Author: Mara

kimi are you out there, if so, got any pictures?! hehe.

Mara, I didn't take any pictures, mine aren't as pretty as yours. I can make good food, but I'm terrible at presentation. It's sorta like my decorating skills. I have some in the freezer, when we have them for dinner I'll take a few shots and share, but I'm shamed by how nice yours look. We've given the rest away as gifts, and had them for dinner the day after Christmas (yummy!). Mine are more round, and you managed to make yours shaped like rectangles. How'd you do it?

 

[Mara]

Date: 12/28/2007 2:39:14 PM
Author: KimberlyH

Date: 12/26/2007 6:56:02 PM
Author: Mara

kimi are you out there, if so, got any pictures?! hehe.

Mara, I didn't take any pictures, mine aren't as pretty as yours. I can make good food, but I'm terrible at presentation. It's sorta like my decorating skills. I have some in the freezer, when we have them for dinner I'll take a few shots and share, but I'm shamed by how nice yours look. We've given the rest away as gifts, and had them for dinner the day after Christmas (yummy!). Mine are more round, and you managed to make yours shaped like rectangles. How'd you do it?

K thanks for saying mine look great, I thought they looked a little sloppy esp in that cooking picture with masa on them hehe. It's hard to keep them together sometimes when they are so moist before cooking. We didn't do anything special to make them rectangular, we just spread masa on the corn husk, put meat and olives in the middle only then wrap up left and right sides then tuck bottom up. So that makes a rectangle. I don't know that I've seen a round one before, how do you guys typically fold them? I am typically not so fab with presentation either but taking pictures of food has kind of made me think about preso a little bit more, kinda fun. I am sure yours look fabulous!!

We took some over last nite to our neighbors because her Slovakian parents are visiting and they never had one before, and her dad is a chef, so he was really interested in how you make them. They loved them and our neighbor guy friend ate 2.5 by himself, he said it was forever since he had homemade! I told them we'd bring some over for them today too since we have about 18 left...and we can only eat like 2 a day for ourselves..and they won't last too much longer. We'll also cut them up into bite sizes for our party tonite and let people spear them with toothpicks.

We have like 2 chicken ones left, those were my favorites so I have been eating them...and about 6-7 sweet only. I'll cut those up tonite for the party as well. Greg was saying we should make them at least one other time per year so that everyone isn't quite so desperate for them at holidays...but that's kind of the fun right??? hehe.