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reynwater asked in Food & DrinkEthnic Cuisine · 1 decade ago

Briant y hermosa cocineras, una pregunta por favor...y pardoname malo Espanol...masa para tamales?

What is the proper consistency for tamale masa? I've looked at Youtube videos (ick, they used pre-made masa)...trying to make it from scratch, authentic, good. Some recipes say it should resemble peanut butter, some videos show very stiff dough. How do you make your masa?

And again, pardon me for my very bad Spanish, been too many years since I spoke it properly.

Gracias.

2 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I found this recipe and the directions seem easy to follow, I hope this helps. You might want to consider making a smaller amount of the masa to start.

    Basic Tamale Recipe

    by Chef Jason Wyrick of The Vegan Culinary Experience

    Serves: 24 Time to Prepare: 1 hour

    12 cups of masa harina flour

    10 cups of water or veggie stock (see below for some tasty stock options,

    this amount may also vary depending on the type of masa you use)

    1 tbsp. of salt

    3 cups of vegetable shortening (Option: 2 cups of oil or margarine

    instead of the shortening)

    24 dried corn husks

    Water to soak the husks

    Option: 1 tbsp. of baking powder

    1. Warm the stock. Combine the masa harina flour with the salt (and optional baking powder.) Stir the vegetable shortening rapidly until it is creamy.

    2. Pour the stock into the masa mix and stir until it is thoroughly combined. Beat the moist masa mix into the shortening until you have a paste that will spread with a knife without breaking apart. You should end up with a semi-thick paste. If you do not have this, you can add more stock in ¼ cup amounts to the mix until you have the right consistency.

    3. To check the consistency, spread the masa on a corn husk and if it spreads easily while staying together, you have the right consistency.

    Option: If you use oil instead of the shortening, add it to the dry masa and then add the stock to the masa.

    4. Soak the corn husks for at least 2 minutes. (Some husks may still have the silks in them, make sure you remove them before using)

    5. Spread masa paste over the top half of a corn husk (the top half is the wide half.) Spoon a line of your filling of choice in a line on one side of the masa paste. Roll the tamale from the filling side to the other side. You will end up with one half of the roll that has masa paste and one that does not. Fold the half that does not have the masa paste against the tamale, folding it in towards the flap of the roll.

    6. Repeat this process with the rest of the ingredients.

    7. Steam the tamales for 45 minutes. If you have a lot of tamales and a tall steamer, you can place the tamales vertically in the steamer.

    Í Espero que esto ayude y buena suerte !

    Kathy

  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    Zucchini is commonly regarded as a plant, and in layman's parlance, of course, this much more useful; however, by stringent definition, the zucchini is a fruit, being the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower.

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