Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A FEW HOT TAMALES!!

 Since we moved from
one of the meccas
of international cuisine - 
Southern California,
I have had to learn
to make many foods
than I enjoyed 
while living there.

One of my favorite
foods has always been Mexican
and there are a plethora
of Mexican restaurants in  
Southern California.
 Southwestern Virginia
has Taco Bell
and a a few
"American-Mexican" restuarants.
Truthfully,
they "don't make the grade".      
 I miss my Mexi-Cali food.

Tamales were always
one of our favorites and
when holidays rolled around,
I always called
Los Golondrinas.
Their green chili tamales,
chips and salsa
are second to none!!

Many traditional Mexican foods
are gluten free
if you use corn masa 
instead of flour.

Here's my try
at making tamales!!


 I decided that I was going
to make two flavors -
pork tamales and green chili.
I started out by cooking my pork
in the pressure cooker,
along with some salt,
pepper, crushed red pepper
and garlic, until it was fork tender.
Then I put my corn husk
in water to soak while
I roasted the Anaheim chilis.
I then mixed  
2 cups of tamale masa 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups of water

After that I peeled the chilis
and sliced the
pepper jack cheese.
I was ready for assembly.

I first started trying 
to put the masa
on the corn husk 
by using a rice spatula,
then I tried a wet regular spatula.
Neither of them worked -
the masa dough
stuck to them both.
I had to resort to 
using my hands
and they worked great.

It was a slow process
but I put the dough
on the corn husk,
then the filling
and rolled
like a burrito 
or sushi
and tied with a 
piece of corn husk.
     
             
 They didn't come out perfect,
but I did try to make
the pork ones long
and the pepper ones square
so you could tell them apart.

Then I steamed them 
for one hour.

While they were cooking,
I decided to try and update
my chili rellenos recipe
and make it as gluten free
as I could -
I did fair but I did still 
mix a smidgen of beer 
in the batter.
     
 They didn't turn out as pretty
as they normally do -
and I don't serve sauce over them -
we like to eat them 
when they are nice and crunchy!!

   
 Refried beans and tortilla chips
are another gluten free food -
just check the labels.

 
And of course it wouldn't be
Mexican food without a good
bowl of salsa.

Who says gluten free
has no flavor?

Just ask my hubby -
he was quite impressed
with his gluten free dinner.

Ole'

Blessings to all who visit here,
Lynn       

5 comments:

  1. Wow! I am so impressed! This all looks delicious and it's making me very hungry!

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  2. It all looks and sounds wonderful. We both love Mexican food. I make it occasionally but we have a couple of favorite restaurants that we visit often.

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  3. You owe me a salad recipe, don't forget. You know, I've slipped a tad from my gluten free and you know what I noticed? My incidence of headaches has increased! Back to being more careful...

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  4. I had a friend and in the fall everyone got together to help and make a zillion tamales. It was an all day job and then everyone got to take some home for the freezer. We made rice too and it was so delicious.

    Sadly to say that she is divorced now and lives in Texas so no more. But we so loved them. Yours looks very good too.

    Diana

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