Tamales!

I've been hankerin' for some tamales ever since I rendered out that lard. It makes the best masa dough, tastes fabulous. Having friends over was the perfect reason to make up a batch. 

Deseed and stem the chilis. I used 6 oz of ancho, a mild variety. They made about 4 cups of sauce. 

Shred that pork...it was cooked in the pressure cooker for about an hour and a half. Save the broth for the masa dough! 

Chilis soaked in boiling water to soften, then blended up and sieved to remove skins and stray seeds. This is only the second time I've made all this...before the sauce was a rich blood red, it was really pretty. This time it's an earthy reddish brown. It didn't taste quite as sweet either. 

Put some sauce in the meat to season it up, along with spices.

Leon woke up and came in, said he was cold and went to bundle up, lol. He was so proud he remembered to put the scarves away when he got done! Mama too. 

Whip that lard until it's really fluffy....then you add the masa dough by spoons, which I got no pictures of at all, my bad. I was rushing to get everything done. 

Spread the dough on your husk, add filling, roll up. I should have put a bit thicker layer of masa. I used a small frosting knife and it worked fabulously. 

Ready to steam. They went for about an hour and fifteen. Served with extra sauce and sour cream, and a side salad of black beans, corn, tomatoes and cukes and lemon/cilantro. Yummy! Next time I'll do better documenting...it's so hard to remember to take pictures all the time.