Tamales

This recipe is for the masa dough. I’ve adapted the recipe from this video on the Simply Mama Cooks channel and the instructions for using banana leaf from another video.

This is another tamal dough recipe, from Muy Bueno Cookbook

Recipe

Ingredient	Baker’s Percentage (%)	Amount for one batch (g)
Masa harina	100	150
Lard	50	75
Water	166	250
Baking Powder	2%	3
Salt	1.5	2

~200 g of banana leaves

Ingredient Notes

• Start with 220g of water and adjust for consistency.
• More water makes a batter that is easier to spread but takes longer to cook.
• Use any flavourful saturated fat. Tallow or butter will work.
• Substitute water for stock. Remember to adjust salt accordingly if stock is seasoned.

Technique

1. Add all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
2. Add fat and begin cutting in. Use hands to smush the fat into the flour, until pea sized.
3. Add water and continue smushing. More smushing will aerate the batter somewhat.
4. Target consistency is a spreadable paste. Looser than Jif peanut butter, maybe warmed up peanut butter.
5. It can now be used to smear onto leaves and filled.
6. Steam in instant pot for 40 minutes.
7. Tamale is finished when it no longer sticks to the leaf. It will be soft and pliable and will firm up as it cools.

It’s customary to fluff the lard and mixture, so the tamale can be light and fluffy. When I did it by hand, it was still light and tender.