Tamaladas

Tamales are a clas­sic and iconic Mex­i­can dish. Warm and com­fort­ing, they are ter­rific year-​round, but par­tic­u­larly appre­ci­ated dur­ing the hol­i­day sea­son.

Undoubt­edly one of the most authen­tic and tra­di­tional dishes in both Mex­i­can and Mexican-​American cook­ing, we're ready for tamales.

They've become wildly pop­u­lar with those in Amer­ica who seek out a per­fect, savory out-​of-​hand food. With so many recipes and vari­a­tions out there, there is a tamale fill­ing for every­one.

A pretty basic prepa­ra­tion, tamales are made with a corn based dough mix­ture that is filled with var­i­ous meats, beans, chili pep­pers and cheese. Wrapped and cooked in corn husks or banana leaves, the husks are removed before eat­ing the tasty cooked tamale.

Good on the their own, when served with pico de gallo and a side of gua­camole and rice, it trans­forms them to being a proper meal.

Mak­ing tamales has begun a group event as assem­bly is done by hand. Many work­ing hands makes for faster pro­duc­tion and con­vivi­al­ity.

This year's dis­tanc­ing may change up how tamales are made in large numbers.

Stuff­ing and wrap­ping no longer relies solely on women in the kitchen, though women still dom­i­nate tamale-​making. Any­one inter­ested in the process is capa­ble of mak­ing great tamales.

A party (tamal­ada) of just a few makes for good fun, con­ver­sa­tion, and quick tamale work. The added bonus of cus­tomized filled tamales is in favor of the mak­ers.

These 'spe­cial occa­sion' fluffy cooked dough and fill­ing treats run the gamut of meats, veg­eta­bles and cheese.

Let the cre­ative juices flow with cooked but­ter­nut or other win­ter squashes. Explore favored chili pep­pers or stick to more tra­di­tional red chilies like Gua­jil­los. Anchos, Ana­heims and Poblanos offer a range of mild to spicy heat. Mix it up.

The essen­tial ingre­di­ents - corn husks and the pre­pared dough (masa) - can be found at any Mex­i­can gro­cery store. No masa? Make your own. Con­ven­tional gro­cery retail­ers have a His­panic aisle with qual­ity tamale ingre­di­ents. The large stock pots, iconic for steam­ing them, are also on dis­play in rows across gro­cery shelves this time of year.

Tamales can be filled with any­thing from the tra­di­tional pork with red sauce to a vari­ety of vegan fill­ings to sat­isfy indi­vid­u­als with spe­cific dietary pref­er­ences.

Sim­ple to make, though requir­ing a com­mit­ment of time, use 'stay-​at-​home' restric­tions to free the inner tamale expert. Fill­ings can be as var­ied, exotic and com­plex as ingre­di­ents allow.

Mak­ing tamales is almost as good as the fiesta that fol­lows. Let's eat tamales!

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