We {Heart} Hot Tamales

We did something fun on Saturday with our friends, Rob & Kara, and a lovely woman named Sylvia. We went to Sylvia's home to learn how to make homemade tamales...

 
Rob & Kara had taken gourmet cooking classes with Sylvia before. Apparently, Rob showed up at the last one wearing a chef's hat and jacket. So Bill went out and borrowed a chef's jacket to make things more interesting....

I think Bill looked very handsome:

We all had our roles to play...We knew we would be entertained with Kara's quick wit and banter:

 
Our two male chefs were looking forward to getting their hands on good food:

 
Bill & I were taking pictures. Rob & Bill stopped Sylvia often to ask questions:

 
I also asked questions and took copious notes:

 
We started out by creating the tamale dough:

 
Sylvia had already prepared the filling; a mixture of shredded chicken, green peppers, olives and spicy sauce. She sat each of us down to demonstrate how to roll tamales in corn husk wrappers:

 
She had Rob, Bill, and another guest, Bryan, patting out tamales in their wrappers on individual plates:

You flatten a handful of dough into a patty, add a spoonful of filling (chicken, pork or beef), and then...

 
You carefully fold over one side of the husk, then overlap your fold with the other side and tuck the bottom under to maintain the fold:

 
Kara sat down to roll a few tamales:

 
And so did I:

 
We rolled about three dozen tamales (the more hands you have, the faster it goes!):

 
Syvlia had a special steamer pot ready for those tamales:

 
Inside the steamer, you first lay a base of empty corn husks to protect your precious tamales from hardening:

 
Sylvia told Bryan to stand all of the tamales upright...

 
And load them in a spiral pattern:

 
You add a top layer of empty corn husks, followed by the steamer lid. You steam your tamales for one hour:

 
But wait! There was more to do!

 
Kara helped Sylvia prepare an appetizer, which was homemade corn tortilla chips topped with cubes of pepperjack cheese. You heat these in the oven until the cheese melts and then dip them in salsa:

 
Mmmmmm.... delicious! Sylvia put us to work making refried beans and Spanish rice next:

 
We fried the rice, added chopped vegetables, and had both pans simmering while the tamales were still steaming...

 
Bill & Kara had fun trading one-liners: 

 
FINALLY! The tamales were ready! Sylvia set the table and handed out plates for us to fill:

 
Of course, I had to document the moment:

 
Are you drooling? We each unwrapped our tamales and dug in:

 
Our compliments to Sylvia and our delicious meal! We had SUCH a good time! We left full and happy with a promise that we would take another cooking class in the future...

Would we do this again? Absolutely. :)

Comments

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You captured the experience! My mouth is watering and the tamales look delicious! I am half expecting to see your new food truck roll up in front of the house so you can share these wonderful delectable tamales. :) Hmmm....maybe I have seriously watched too much "The Next Great Restaurant"!