Neil’s Mother’s Tamales

Neil’s Mother’s Tamales

To Cook The chicken

4 Large Chicken Breasts bone in and with skin (4 Lbs)
12 cups of water
2 Red Bell Peppers
6 cloves of Garlic
1/2 tbsp of Sazon
2 tbsp of Adobo
1tsp of Cumin
1 tsp of Salt

For the Sofrito
3 medium tomatoes
3 medium red onions
1 tsp of Sazon
10 garlic cloves
1 tbsp of Adobo
1 tsp of Cayanne Pepper
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1/2 cup of olive oil

Garnish:
1/2 cup of green olives sliced
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Dough
6 cups of Maseca tamal flour
4 tbsp of butter
Half of the chicken broth left over from cooking the chicken (explanation below)

Wrapping
20 dry corn husks (soaked in water for about 24 hours before)
40 rubber bands

Preparation:

In a large soup pot place all the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Then bring the temperature down to a medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, place all the ingredients for the sofrito in a blender. Blend well. In a frying pan, heat the oil to a medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, place the blended mixture in it and literally fry the sauce for about 20 minutes.
Take the chicken out of the pot and let it cool enough to handle. While the chicken is cooling take the vegetables from the broth to a blender. Blend until smooth and return to the broth. Take the Sofrito of the stove and put into the broth. Turn the heat off and take half of the broth to another container and set aside to cool.
With your hands, shred the chicken meat. Once it is shredded, put the chicken in the soup pot with half of the broth and let it simmer until the liquid is almost reduced. At this point add the green olives, the raisins and the cilantro. Turn off and set aside.

Place the flour into a container and add the other half of the broth plus the water and knead until getting a soft smooth consistency.

Assembling:

Place one corn husk on your counter, add about a tbsp of dough and with your fingers press the dough to form a circle inside the husk. Make sure your fingers are wet, this way the dough wont stick to your fingers.
Place one tbsp of the chicken and then pul the dough towards the meat to “encase it”. Wrap the husk from side to side first and them fold in the top and the bottom of the husk. Tight up with a rubber band in two places, on the very top and in the middle of the tamal.
Once they are all wrapped, place in a steamer for about 20 minutes. Let them rest for 10 minutes and serve.