Make a pile at a time.
Chile Cheese Tamales with Avocado Crema
Chef Seabring Davis
20 tamales
2 hours 30 minutes
1 hours 30 minutes
Latin American
Main Dishes
Make a pile at a time.
Ingredients
- 1 package dried corn husks
blank
3 ½ cups masa harina cornmeal
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 ½ cups vegetable stock
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
blank
6 poblano or pasilla peppers, roasted and peeled
8 oz goat cheese
8 oz cheddar cheese
8 oz Monterey Jack cheese
blank
Sliced green onion
Cilantro
Directions
Place the corn husks in a large pot and completely cover them with hot water. Soak for 30 minutes to an hour until they soften and are pliable.
In a medium bowl, mix the masa cornmeal with salt, baking powder.
Add the vegetable oil, butter, and vegetable stock. Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth, soft dough. The dough should be moist and a little sticky, not stiff. Let rest for 30 minutes.
Turn your oven to broil. Place whole peppers on a sheet pan. Broil peppers until blistered on the outside, ~6 minutes each side.
When blackened, remove from oven, tent loosely with foil and allow to cool until easy to handle. Peel skin from warm roasted peppers. Deseed peppers and cut into long slices. Set aside.
Mix cheese and peppers together, forming into a rectangle about ½” thick.
blank
Drain the corn husks and spread them out flat.
On a large corn husk with the pointy side facing away from you, spread approximately 4 tbsp of the prepared masa onto the bottom half of the husk using the back of your spoon or your fingers.
You want to have a thin layer of masa on the corn husk, but not thin enough that it’s transparent or rips. Spread evenly into a rectangle, leaving about ¼-½” of space to allow for folding the tamale.
Fill with approximately 1 oz of chile-cheese filling. A scale helps!
Fold the long edges together to meet like a book, sealing the masa over the filling.
Fold over the remaining edge once more.
Fold in the pointy edge like an envelope and secure the whole thing with a tie made from a thin strip of corn husk.
Prepare to steam on the stovetop with either a bamboo steamer or steamer pot.
Bring 3-4 inches of water to a boil with the bamboo steamer on top. Gently lay tamales onto surface, fitting approximately 10 onto two layers. Cook in the steamer for 30-40 minutes.
If using a steamer pot, place the filled tamales with the open end facing up in a large steamer pot. Fill steamer chamber with water and steam for 30-40 minutes, until the dough is cooked through and the tamale easily pulls away from the corn husk.
To serve, unwrap tamales on plate, leaving the corn husk beneath. Optionally, garnish with sliced green onions or cilantro.