Two-Spice Chicken Tamales

[vengroff]

Two-Spice Chicken Tamales

Serves 4 as Main Dishor 12 as Appetizer.

These tamales are hot, but not overly so. You can adjust the proportion of spices to suit your particular tastes. In addition to habaneros, these tamales have just a touch of cinammon in the dough. This touch bridges the gap between the hot filling and the sweeteness of the corn kernels embedded in the dough.

This recipe makes a dozen tamales.

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For wrapping

• 24 corn husk leaves
  
• water to soak the leaves
  

For the dough

• 1-1/2 c white masa harina
  
• 1/2 c sweet corn kernels, fresh or frozen
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  
• 2 c chicken stock
  
• 3 T bacon drippings, or substitute lard or corn oil
  
• 1 tsp habanero sauce, such as El Yucateco brand
  

For the filling

• 3 chicken thighs, skinned and boned, about 4oz each
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 2 T light olive or corn oil
  
• 12 oz sofrito sauce. You can use a commercial brand like Goya, or make your own from tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and cilantro.
  
• 2 tsp habanero sauce, or to taste
  

At least two hours ahead of time, preferably eight hours, seperate the corn husk leaves from one another and place them in a wide shallow dish. Cover with water. You may have to put a plate on top of them to weigh them down, otherwise the top ones will not get wet.

Begin the tamales by making the dough. Mix the corn into the masa. If you are using fresh corn, be sure to squeeze the corn milk off the cob into the mix. Stir in the liquid ingredients and form the dough into a ball. Set it aside while you work on the filling.

Begin the filling by sprinking the chicken with salt and a good amount of black pepper. Heat a skillet or grill pan over medium high heat. Add the oil and then the chicken. Cook until golden brown on both sides and just barely cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes.

In the mean time, put the sofrito in a medium saucepan and warm it over medium heat. Add the habanero sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, and dice it into 1/2" cubes. Put the chicken into the softrito and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. In this time the sauce should thicken and be partially absorbed into the chicken.

Now, it's time to assemble the tamales. Take one large or two small corn husk leaves out of the water and pat them dry. They should be soft and flexible. Lay the leaves flat on the work surface, overlapping two leaves by 1-1/2" if they are not large. The top (pointy end) of the leaves should be facing away from you, and the flat side where they were cut should face you.

Place roughly 2T of dough in the center of the leaves, and spread it out into a rectangle. The rectangle should come to withing 1" of the bottom of the leaves, and about 1-1/2" of the sides. Leave a little extra room at the top where the leaves are pointy. Place about 2T of filling in the center. Roll the corn husks up from both sides so that the dough meets at the top and seals in the filling, then let the husks lie back flat on the table. The filling should be completely enclosed in a layer of dough. Patch with additional dough if necessary.

Now, fold the bottom of the leaves over the dough, then roll from one side to the other. The fold on the bottom should hold the dough in as you roll. Tie the top closed with a short length of butcher's twine. Tie a second length around the tamale about 1" from the bottom. If you want to be extra authentic, you can tie your tamales with thin strands cut from an extra corn husk instead of using string.

As you are assembling the rest of the tamales, bring some water to a boil in a large pot with a steamer insert. A stock pot with a pasta/steamer insert is ideal for this. The water should come up to just below the insert. You can also use a bamboo steamer.

Once all the tamales are assembled, place them in the steamer. Let them steam for 45-60 minutes. You can tell when they are done because they will feel firm. If you want to be extra sure, remove one from the steamer and open it. The dough should be firm and should release from the corn husks. If it is still soft and sticky, tie it back up and return it to the steamer.

When the tamales are ready, serve them up with some refritos and your favorite salsa.

Keywords: Chicken, Main Dish, Mexican, Easy

( RG186 )