Chili Today, Hot Tamale

Tamale Ingredients
Originally uploaded by The Stitchin Sheep.

Well, actually it all happened yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to blog about it. I've been craving Mexican food lately, and when I saw some ground pork with nothing in it (a rarity here - usually it's got salt, pepper and some herbs in it), I got motivated for some Tamale making. Now, I think traditionally, in Mexico, this is more of a group endeavor. Somewhat like a Stitch 'n Bitch, women sit around shooting the breeze (or their mouths off, whichever the case may be) making tasty little morsels together. There's a really good reason for that sort of tradition, because done alone, these are an all day (if not several day) affair.

In this picture, you see all of my ingredients. What I don't show is the parts leading up to this. I roasted the peppers and made the red sauce from scratch. Then, I browned some beef (the pork, I did later) and onions and mixed some sauce with it. Then, there's the corn mixture for the masa dough. And, you have to soak the husks for quite a while. Did it all from scratch (Well, except making the flour for the masa dough, because let's be serious, here. Do you really see me hand-grinding my own corn for this? I've got knitting to do!).

Check out the next post for a picture of the finished yummies.