Info
- Active cooking: 1 hour 5 minutes
- From start to finish: 3 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 to 16 tamales
Ingredients
Ancho-Chile Tamale Sauce
- 10 dried ancho chiles, seeds and stems removed
- 4 dried California chiles, seeds and stems removed
- 2 medium onions, cut into quarters
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons dried whole Mexican oregano
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- One 19-ounce can red chili sauce
Squash and Mushroom Filling
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive pomace oil
- 3/4 pound portobello mushrooms, stems included, cut into medium dice
- 3/4 pound peeled butternut squash, cut into medium dice
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried whole Mexican oregano
- Kosher salt
Masa
- 3 cups tamale masa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- One 8-ounce package corn husks
- Black olives, for the tamales
Instructions
1. Build the chile sauce
Put the anchos, California chiles, onions and garlic in a bowl and cover them with 4 cups of boiling water. Switch off the heat and leave everything to steep for 30 minutes. Pour the chiles, aromatics and soaking liquid into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Coat the bottom of a soup pot with the oil and warm it, then stir in the cumin and oregano. Keep stirring as they toast until they smell fragrant. Pour in the chile puree along with the vegetable stock, sugar and salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the canned red chili sauce and let it heat through.
2. Make the filling
Set a saucepan over medium heat and add the oil. Add the mushrooms, squash, garlic, oregano and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables take on a glaze and are no longer crisp. They don't need to become fully tender, since they will keep cooking during steaming.
Stir 3/4 cup of the red tamale sauce into the filling, then set it aside to cool.
3. Mix the masa
In a large bowl, combine the masa, baking powder and salt. Add the vegetable stock and 1/2 cup of the red tamale sauce and stir to blend.
Using a stand mixer, whip the vegetable shortening until it looks fluffy. With the mixer still running, add the masa mixture and beat until it is evenly combined.
4. Soak the husks
Submerge the corn husks in hot water and leave them for roughly 15 minutes, until they are soft and bend easily. Drain them and squeeze out the excess water.
5. Fill and roll
Lay a husk with its smoother side facing up and spread masa over it with a spatula or the back of a spoon, covering everything except the pointed tip. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the squash and mushroom mixture onto each prepared husk.
To close a tamale, fold one long edge about a third of the way across the filling, fold the opposite long edge over, then fold the pointed end back against the bundle; the filling will remain exposed at the other end, which is fine. Press two black olives into the masa at the open end of each tamale.
6. Steam
Set a steamer rack inside a large pot and add enough water that the rack sits just above the surface. Cover the rack with flat corn husks and stand the rolled tamales on it, open side facing up. Toss two pennies into the water at the bottom of the pot, lay more flat husks over the tamales, drape a clean dish towel over the rack, and seal the pot with a tight lid or foil. Steam for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The pennies will rattle and ring vigorously once the water boils. Lower the heat until they settle into a gentler rhythm. If the sound stops, the water has boiled off and more should be added right away.
7. Serve
Bring the tamales to the table with extra red tamale sauce on the side.
