TAMALES INSPIRED BY COCO

Begin by soaking the corn husks in room temperature water for at least 3 hours.

Bring some water to a boil, and boil your guajillo and pasilla chiles until they are nice and soft.

Once they are cooked, remove the stem and add them to a blender along with the water that the peppers were boiled in, garlic, quartered tomatillos, orange juice, lime juice, cumin, a pinch of Mexican oregano, salt, and pepper. Blitz into a smooth paste and set aside.

Next we are going to clean the pork from the bone, removing the skin, and cut it into 2 inch cubes.

In a large Ziploc bag, combine your pork and chili mixture. Massage the bag to make sure all the pork is coated, and place in fridge for at least 3 hours. If you leave it to marinate overnight, be sure not to use foil. After at least 3 hours place the pork in a dish and cook in the oven at 275° for 3 hours.

In a bowl combine masa harina with hot water. Give a good mix with a wooden spoon until a crumbly dough forms. Set aside and let it rest for 15 minutes.

In a stand mixer, whip lard for 2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add baking powder and kosher salt. Mix to combine before adding our soaked masa. Slowly add while scraping down the sides with a spoon, and then slowly add warm chicken stock. Mix to combine. Let the tamale dough rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

Take pork mixture out of the oven and shred it with a fork, and add some of the marinade back to the pork.

Roast some poblano peppers on your stovetop, wrap them in foil, and let them steam in there before we peel them.

Once they’ve steamed, peel the blackened char off the peppers and slice them into strips.

Take your corn husk, open it up, and spread your tamale dough in a relatively thin and even layer over the top half of the corn husk leaving a 2 inch border on each side. Stuff with your fillings, and roll together so that the two sides of the tamale dough meet in the middle. Fold up the tapered end of the corn husk, and with 2 small strips of corn husks, tie together in the center. Repeat for however many tamales you would like to make. This recipe calls for two kinds of tamales, one with peppers and cheese, the other with your pork.

Place all the tamales standing up in the steam basket of a large pot. Cover the top of the tamales with some corn husks to help concentrate the steam in the steamer. Add about 2 cups of water, and cook for about 45 minutes.

Once you remove the tamales from the pot, let them rest for 30 minutes before digging in.

Remove the corn husk and enjoy!