First, soak your corn husks in hot water for about 10 minutes or so.
- 4 cups masa harina
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup non-dairy spread (such as earth balance)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the tamale sauce:
- 3 dried red chiles
- Water
- 1 large clove garlic
- 2 black peppercorns, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt, more to taste
Step 2: Remove the chiles and place into a blender, reserving the soaking water. Blend with the garlic, crushed peppercorns, salt, and 1 1/2 cups soaking water.
Step 3: Poor through a sieve into a sauce pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Skim off the foam and use immediately or refrigerate for later.
You can fill the tamales with whatever you want! We used onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, garlic, and the homemade tamale sauce (which Natali taught us how to make). It was fun because everyone got to make their own tamales and fill them with whatever ingredients they liked!
Natali taught us how to assemble the tamales since she had just learned from her mom over our Christmas break. Her family might actually open up a tamale restaurant in California!
Assembling the tamales (the fun part!):
Step 1: Put about two tablespoons of dough onto the soft side of the corn husk, and smash it flat (supposedly there is a soft and rough side, but I could never tell the difference).
Step 2: Add a tablespoon of filling down the center of the dough.
Step 3: Pull the sides of the corn husk together, to sort of roll the dough over the filling. Wrap the edges around each other to close up the seam.
Step 4: Steam for about 30 minutes. The tamales should be firm, but not dry and hold their shape when you unwrap the corn husk. It is best to use a tall pot so that the tamales can stand up (as you can see in the picture below, we did not have a tall pot. haha! But they still turned out great!)
We enjoyed these delicious tamales with Mexican brown rice, salsa, and lots of fresh cilantro!!! Mmmm...we were SOOO happy!!! Tamales and tacos are two of our most missed foods here in Korea. It was so nice to have a taste from home thanks to Cosette's family.