Hot Tamales!

Yesterday, I had a welcome home party for baby Evvy. I had decided long ago that I wanted to serve "Guatemalan" food for her party. As the time grew closer I started to feel somewhat overwhelmed in thinking about making the food and getting everything ready. But alas, I work very well under pressure with a deadline and I have WONDERFUL supportive friends.

The first thing to be done was to make the tamales. Guatemalan tamales are different than Mexican tamales. They are larger and have more "masa" which is the cornmeal dough. My dear friend Peggy came over and we made a day of making tamales. I couldn't have done it without her help and moral support.

Steps to make the tamales:
1) Made sauce (boiled tomatoes; heated various peppers, cinnamon and spices to release their aroma; ground up spices; add to tomatoes; add chicken to sauce to absorb flavors)

2) Made masa by adding water, butter and sugar to masa harina flour and cooking for about 30 minutes while stirring. This step took a LOT of muscle from both of us as the masa gets very thick and we didn't want to burn it.
3) Assemble the tamales
4) Take a square of aluminum foil

• Add a blob of masa to the middle

• Form a rectangle of the masa approximately 1" thick
Add a spoonful of sauce making an indentation in the middle of the tamale
Add a piece of chicken & decorate with green olives, raisins and pimentos
Fold the foil over in the middle Roll the ends

I froze the tamales until the day of the party and then I let them thaw and put them in a deep pot with about 6" of water. You then cover the pot and let them steam for 1 1/2-2 hours. You can leave them in the pot to keep them hot and put them on a platter for people to serve themselves. To eat, cut the rolled ends of the foil off and unfold the middle to make a small serving plate. We discovered that we probably should have added more sauce to the tamale but no problem, we had TONS of extra sauce so I put a dish next to the tamales so people could spoon more over them.

Everyone said they were yummy. I personally thought they weren't quite right but I guess I was the only one that had tasted the real thing in Guatemala.

Here are some pictures of the process and finished product.

Susan