I love doing projects with other people. My art and cooking classes are basically an excuse to hang out with people and make stuff. Naturally most of my friends are cooking/art/project junkies as well. One of our favorite classes to teach is how to make tamales. I’m fortunate to have a Mexican market in my neighborhood that sells 5 lb. bags of tamale masa (cornmeal) and corn husks. Besides the fun of hanging out, it’s fun to see all the random fillings people bring.
It all starts with soaking the corn husks in water, and making strips to tie our tamales closed.
Once this is done, you can spread a little masa on your corn husk and fill it with whatever you want. Careful not to make them too big, they puff up when you cook them!
Now wrap the husk around your tamale like a little corn package of joy and tie it closed with the strips you prepared earlier.
It’s easy to get a nice pile going when everyone is working together.
Soon you have enough to put in the steamer. It takes a big pot to steam a mess of tamales.
Once they are all done we divided them up. Don’t worry about who made which ones, just take a bunch and enjoy a surprise every time you eat one. I froze half of mine and reheated them in the microwave. Sadly they are all gone now.
I wish I could eat you guys all over again!