no esta mal, porque es tamal

"i got some ingredients, so you can make tamales!" my dad told me, "it'll be fun!" little did we know, making tamales is actually a 4 hour long ordeal...not really a quick week night dinner. nonetheless, i got to work and single handedly turned our kitchen into a tamale factory.
Pork Tamales makes about 20 (serving size =2 per person)
*2 lbs pork (or chicken)
* 1 teaspoon each garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, and paprika
* salt and pepper
*4 tablespoons flour (actually i used 2 T of whole wheat flour and 2 T of cornmeal...it was all we had and it worked fine)
*1 bag corn husks (my bag was 8 oz, but i had a ton leftover)
*4 lb package prepared masa
1. put the meat in a large pot and cover with water. bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours, until meat easily shreds. remove from pot, reserving cooking liquid, and shred the meat with forks, like so:



2. meanwhile, turn up the heat on your pot of water. bring to boil and cook until liquid is reduced to about 2 cups. turn heat down and stir in spices, a dash each of salt and pepper, and flour. stir for about 3 minutes, adding more flour or water if necessary until mixture is like a medium thick gravy.
3. soak corn husks in water for at least 10 minutes. spread masa evenly over each corn husk, then top with a spoonful of meat and a spoonful of gravy (see top photo above, although you can put more meat and gravy than that in your tamal). leave about 1/2 inch of corn husk un-masa-ed on each side.
4. fold bottom of corn husk (the small side...looks like the bottom of the "v") over filling, then repeat with the two sides, leaving top open. repeat until you've used up all your masa and/or all your meat.
5. place tamales in a steamer basket over boiling water in a large pot. tamales should be standing straight, with the open parts on top. cover and steam for about 45 minutes, until corn husks peel off easily.
the final product, served with beans, rice, greens and avocado.
-Lola
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