Chicken Tamal in Salsa Verde
Shredded chicken slow simmered in a roasted salsa verde are delicious for a tamal filling!
Servings 30 tamales
Equipment
- 1 Large Steamer Pot
- 40 corn husk, previously softened in HOT water for 1-2 hours ahead
Ingredients
Salsa Verde Chicken
- 10 tomatillos, 436 gr
- 1 Roma tomato, 109 gr
- 3 poblano peppers, 331 gr
- 4 large serrano peppers. 78 gr
- 4-6 cloves of garlic, 18 gr,
- 1 c Chicken broth or water
- handful of cilantro
- Salt, to taste
- Avocado oil
- 1 medium white onion, 268 gr, sliced into strips
- 2 lbs chicken, shredded and previously cooked
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsps oregano
Masa For Tamales
- 3/4-1 c natural rendered pork lard
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Salt, to taste
- 2 1/2 lbs fresh ground corn masa
- 3/4-1 c broth or water I used chicken broth
Instructions
Salsa Verde Chicken
- Preheat broiler on high for 5 minutes. Wash and dry the tomatillos, poblanos, tomato and serrano peppers. Rub a light coat of oil all over them and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with foil paper under the tomatillos and tomato. Broil for 8-10 minutes, turning as needed. Place the poblanos in a plastic bag, to steam for 10 minutes.
- When ready, peel the skins from the poblanos and clean out the seeds and stems. Slice two of them into strips and set aside. To the blender add the remaining poblano, tomatillos, tomato, serranos, cilantro, 1 cup of broth, 2 cloves of garlic and salt, to taste. Blend on medium until mostly smooth. Set the salsa aside.
- In a deep skillet, preheat 3 tablespoons of avocado oil to medium heat. Mince the remaining garlic. Sauté the onions for 6-7 minutes, then add the garlic and saute for one more minute. Add the chicken and pour in the salsa. Stir well to combine. When it comes up to a simmer, taste it for salt. Mix in the cumin, pepper and crushed oregano. Cook for 15 minutes or until it reduces slightly. Let the filling cool completely before adding it to prepared corn husk. I suggest preparing the filling a day ahead and chilling it overnight.
Masa For Tamales
- Soak the corn husks in very hot water a few hours ahead of time.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer whip the lard for a few minutes. Mix in the baking powder and start with 1 tsp of salt. Break the fresh ground masa into smaller chunks and gradually mix them in. Mix on low.
- Once you have all the masa mixed in, switch the speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes. Gradually mix in the room temperature broth. Turn the speed up and mix for 5 minutes. Taste for salt along the way and adjust to your liking. Mix for another 5-6 minutes or until the masa looks light and fluffy. If it looks to thick, you can mix in a little more broth at a time. Cover masa and reserve until ready to use.
- When ready to assemble, drain all the water from the corn husk, shaking excess water out. Pick out the best 30 corn husk so most are uniform in size. If they are too wide, I tear them, so they are only about 5-6 inches wide. Using the back of a spoon, spread 1/4 c, more or less on the center part of the corn husk. You can leave a rim at the bottom and the sides, or you can go all the way across.
- Add about 1/4 c of filling down the center of spread masa. Fold in the sides and then fold down the flap. Place them open side up or lay them down in an even layer until you are done filling.
- In the meantime, you can prepare the large steamer pot by filling it with 2 liters of water at the bottom. You can add a few coins to the bottom. The coins will make a rattling sound when the water is boiling. If they stop rattling, then it means you ran out of water. You don't want that. Add the steamer insert. Take the remaining corn husk and tear them into strips. Place them in an even layer over the steamer insert.
- Arrange the tamales, open side up. If using the deli sheets to overwrap, then you don't need to add more husks to cover the tamales. Turn the heat to high and cover the pot. After about 5-6 minutes, the water should begin to boil, and you will see some steam. Once it begins to steam rapidly, reduce the heat to medium. Set your timer for 1 hour, 10 minutes. After that time, carefully remove one tamal onto a plate. Let it cool for 3-4 minutes. If the husk peels away easily, then the tamales are ready. If not, steam for another 15-20 minutes.
Notes
The masa quebrada or masa sin preparar typically comes in a 5 lb. bag. In the video I prepared the entire 5 pounds, so I doubled all the other ingredients as well. I froze the remaining masa in an airtight container for future tamales.