Elote Cafe Green Corn Tamal

My favorite tamal, after 15 years of making these babies I could still eat one every day and that is the truest test of a classic which for me I believe this to be. This is great intro to tamales as they are easy to form and the prep is minimal. In the southwest where I live these are always the crowd favorite. In all my years of making tamales I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t like them. If you make carnitas or just pork roast save the fat and use your own homemade lard, it makes a difference as well.

This is a great intro to tamales as they are easy to form and the prep is minimal.

Yield: 12 tamales

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds masa
1 pound lard
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups corn
2 cups cheese
2 cups roasted diced poblano chiles

Instructions

Using a stand mixer for this one, beat the lard with the salt, sugar and baking powder then add the masa and beat until smooth adding the milk, bit by bit, then fold in corn, cheese and chiles.
Divide dough evenly on 12 large corn husks or 24 small husks, roll and steam for 1 hour.

Attribution

Recipe used with permission from Jeff Smedstad, Executive Chef, Elote Cafe, Sedona, Arizona.