Pictures from a Christmas tamalada

Six really cool women came over for my tamale-making party yesterday — four Americans, one Mexican, one Venezuelan. One of the Americans brought pizza dip. We also had raisin-walnut bread, cookies, a spread of cream cheese and red chile marmalade, and toasted pumpkin-seed dip.

Using fresh masa harina my friend Alejandra bought at a tortillería, which was much moister and fresher than the flour I bought last week at Mercado de la Merced….

… we mixed up a lard-laden tamale masa, fluffy like buttercream frosting.

We soaked corn husks in a big pot, removed them, squeezed them dry, and spread a layer of masa inside.

Added fillings: rajas con queso and salsa verde, chicken with green mole sauce, and tomato-cumin with shredded chicken. Then we rolled ’em up, and tied them closed with strips of corn husk.

We placed them in my steamer pot, which I’d filled partially with water and two 1-peso coins. The coins rattle in boiling water, so when they stopped rattling, we’d know to add more water. The tamales need constant steam in order to cook.

After about 90 minutes, they were done.

And man were they good. Better than my practice version. The masa was spongy and light, just like I’d hoped. We served them with homemade refried beans, boiled in my clay bean pot and then fried in a few tablespoons of lard. (You don’t want to know how much lard we went through yesterday.) And we had champurrado, made with Mexican chocolate I’d purchased in Pátzcuaro.

It was a perfect Christmas moment: friends, a bountiful table and a warm home. So warm, in fact, that the steam from the tamales had condensed on the windows. I can’t wait to do it again next year.

I’ll post the recipe for sweet tamales in the next few days. They were my faves, with cinnamon, sugar, pineapple, nuts and raisins. Yum.