Whenever I plan on making tamales, I always plan on spending a few hours of cook time in the kitchen rolling out all of the masa, shredding and preparing the filling, rolling the tamales and then stuffing it in the corn husk. Not anymore! Christina Fuentes Rosendahl, a party planner from San Antonio, Texas has shared her trick for how to make tamales in under a minute, which makes this method one you need to know to make this main dish for weeknight dinners.
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With over 11,000,000 views and 5,000 comments, Christina is sharing her technique with fellow Mexican food lovers. While some question the technique, (some authentic Mexican cooks are saying that when made in Mexico the corn masa is wet and spread on the dried corn husk), most commenters are thrilled to learn this quick trick to help speed up the tamale-making process.
How Do You Cook Tamales Fast?
To begin, we recommend making your tamale filling (we love this red chile pork filling or you could even make chicken tamales) while you soak corn husks in warm water, doing them simultaneously to cut down on prep time.
Once the fillings are done, it's time to prepare the masa dough (tamale dough). Made by mixing masa harina (a type of corn flour), flour, baking powder, salt, hot water and pork lard (or vegetable shortening) in a large bowl or stand mixer, this easy recipe only takes a few minutes to whip up.
Take the corn husks out of the soaking water and pat them dry with paper towels.
Now comes the part where, once time-consuming, it is reduced to seconds thanks to Christina and her step-by-step guide. Using a plastic flour tortillas bag (in this case a H-E-B bag) cut the sides to make the bag lay flat. Place the bag on the tortilla press, open so once you add the masa dough a flap of plastic covers it.
Press down on the tortilla maker (if you don't have one you can totally get one here) and release. The dough should be almost the size of the tortilla press. Add in your tamale fillings and then roll. Place the rolled homemade tamales in the corn husk, roll and fold, and you're done! Make yourself an assembly line with another helping hand and these tamales will be filled before you can say, "delicioso."
Then all you have to do is place the corn husks into an Instant Pot, steamer pot or large pot with a steamer basket. Serve with your favorite toppings like sour cream, cilantro, veggies or guacamole.
Looking to make your own tamales this week for tamale Tuesday rather than taco Tuesday? Make pork tamales, cheese tamales, or check out our chicken tamales recipe and try out the trick yourself. We love to make this tamale recipe and serve it with red chile sauce, green chile sauce, queso or salsa verde, and refried beans.
If the masa dough seems too wet for the tortilla press add in a little extra of masa harina.
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This post was originally published on December 15, 2020.
