How To Cook Tamales- By: Musarrat Sheikh

Description : In Mexico, Tamales is one of the most important dishes. Tamales can be prepared using chicken or beef which is quite versatile. In case you love Mexican cuisine, you can start off by learning how to cook tamales. Below is one great recipe that will have some tamales ready within a short while. To embark on this recipe, we will have to prepare all ingredients that you will need. The ingredients are divided into two categories i.e. the filling ingredients and the dough ingredients. For the filling ingredients, this is what you will need: 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 2 to 3 tablespoons ground red chili pepper, 1 tablespoon ground chili powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1/4 cup tomato sauce, 2 pounds lean, boneless beef or chicken, 3 tablespoons cooking oil, 1/4 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups water, 2 teaspoons beef base, 1 can of chopped green chilies, 7 ounces, 4 large cloves finely minced garlic.

The next ingredients will go into preparing the dough. They include: 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 4 1/2 cups corn flour, 2 2/3 cup warm water, 3 dozen corn husks, 1 1/2 cups lard.

Once you have the filling ingredients simmering on the skillet slowly, you start off on the dough ingredients and you will need to do the following. Start off by soaking the corn husks for an hour or so as they tend to be a little tough. In the confines of some big bowl, put in salt and lard and beat them up until fluffy. Take an electric beater or mixture and beat up your mixture well. Take another big bowl and put in the warm water plus the corn flour. The next step is to put in the lard mixture and beat the ensuing mixture until it combines well. The next thing is to assemble the tamales. Take the broadest part of the corn husk and spread out a thin dough coat. Spread out a tablespoon of the already prepared filling into the dough. Fold the husk sides together and start cooking the tamales. Place them in a steamer or blancher and start off with the corn husks before putting in the tamales in an upright fashion. This dish is also part of Guatemalan foods.

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Author Resource : This article touched the basics of the topic. I have 2 more resources related to the above. They are how to cook tamales and guatemalan food. Do consider reading them.