Love at First Bite

When Jason and I go out to eat I always try to order something diffferent than him.  When we get our food I always offer him a bite of mine, I do this partly because sharing is nice to do but more because I hope that he will then offer to let me try his food without having to ask for it.  This happened a few years ago when we were at a mexican restaurant and he let me try his tamales.  I have always loved mexican food but for years had been too scared to try tamales because I had no clue what was in them.  It was love at first bite.  I always knew that Jason liked them because I had often heard the story from his mom how when he was little and they lived in Texas he used to eat tamales all the time.  So I decided like I do with many foods I have eaten in restaurants that I should try to make my own version at home. 

I started as I so often do by letting my fingers do the walking and tried to find a recipe online that I could base my version off of.  After a bit of searching I decided to make up my own filling and follow a recipe for the masa portion of the tamale.

The first step was to soak the corn husks in hot water.  I guess you could make life easier and wrap the tamales in foil but I have a tendancy to not take the easy route when cooking and I wanted them to be more authentic.

Then I started by poaching a few chicken breasts in chicken broth.  I used some of Festival's chipotle flavored ones because that's what I had at home (and because I love them).  I have taken a tip from one of my favs (Rachael Ray) and use chicken broth in place of water in recipes as much as I can because it adds a lot more flavor to the finished product.  Once the chicken is cooked I let them cool a bit and then shredded them up.

While the chicken was cooling, I strained the poaching liquid and added it back into the pan with a chopped onion and a few cloves of minced garlic and let cook until the liquid was reduced.

Then I added the chicken back to the pan along with a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) and I added a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce.  (My end result was super spicy so I would suggest not using the entire can in the future.)  To make the filling more creamy (and to downplay the spicy a bit) I added some cream and about a quarter cup of Philly Cooking Cream.  I just discovered this stuff a couple of weeks ago and I am in love with it!  Then I let the filling cook down a bit over low heat while I made the masa.

Masa is something that I have never worked with before so I wanted to follow a recipe for this part to make sure I didn't screw it up.  I heated three cups of chicken broth with a teaspoon of each, sea salt, garlic powder and cumin until the seasonings dissolved and the broth was warm but not yet boiling.  In a mixing bowl, mix three cups of masa flour with two teaspoons of baking powder on a low speed.  Add the broth to the masa about a cup at a time until a wet dough forms.  In a separate bowl beat one cup of vegetable shortening until light and fluffy.  Add the masa mixture one large spoonful at a time to the shortening until it's all combined.  Continue to mix until a pea sized ball of masa dropped into a cup of cold water floats.  The goal is to get the filling full of air so the final product is light and airy.

Once all the fillings were ready it was time for assembly.  I drained the water from the corn husks and layed them out on the counter.  Then I spread a layer of masa on top, about a half inch thick in the middle of the husk.

Then I spread some of the chicken filling over the masa.

Once the fillings are in place, I rolled them up and continued until I was out of filling.  I ended up with about 15 medium sized tamales.

Then they were ready for their steam bath.  I steamed them for about an hour, until the masa was cooked through.  I served them with some spanish rice and a mixture of salsa and sour cream that I drizzled over the top.  Besides the level of spice being a little higher than desired they turned out very good for my first attempt.