Friday, December 25, 2009

HOT Christmas TAMALES!


Good thing I made these on Christmas Eve because we woke up to another power failure today.

This time it wasn't one of our trees that downed the power lines (thank Heavens!) and now at 8am, we have restored electricity. The windstorm last night was fierce and all went dark at 2:30 am.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming: Tamales! The steaming platter above is so aromatic, I wish we had smell-o-net. Tamale making is a family tradition, but I ended up making these alone as Brooke had to do stuff at home. We'll be bringing dinner to her house today.


I had a hard time finding masa preparada, so I had to make the dough from the powdered masa. I followed the directions mostly and then added and subtracted from there. Eventually I got the right consistency and set up the assembly line. The corn husks called ojas (OH-hass) were soaked in my washing machine, to free up the kitchen sink. I made two kinds of meat filling, pork and chicken for my b-i-l who prefers not to eat pork. Both are loaded with garlic and chili powder and look and taste the same, if you ask me.



The ojas are wrapped and folded and then stacked in the pressure cooker with a cup or two of water and steamed at pressure for 10-15 minutes. It makes a lot of racket, but is so much faster than steaming them in a regular pot (for hours!) I think I made about 60 tamales.

Then last night I was browsing through Ravelry and found this adorable neck thingy, called Kissed. I just knew it had to be made for my niece. I had time, just the right yarn and all the necessary inspiration.

Here it is in Rose pink silk merino 50/50. So buttery soft and sweet. I hope she likes it.
Merry Christmas EVERYONE...even Anonymous!
Love,
Melody
PS. The sweater dried in time to wear it for Christmas!! The fit is soooo much better.


Posted by Picasa

I really gotta wash that full length mirror!

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:42 AM

    Merry Christmas. Thanks to your inspiration there were many happy and warm people this Christmas morning. I have not been able to spend much time at the machine but my knitting needles clacked away.
    Cassie

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  2. Merry Christmas to you, Dave, and the whole family. Enjoy those tamales! :-)

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  3. Merry Xmas to my favourite hot tamale!

    xo
    Mel of the North

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  4. Guess I didn't see that your mirror needs washing. After I clean my glasses and computer screen I'll do the mirrow white glove on line check again!

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  5. Everything, including you, looks fabulous. Merry Christmas to you and Dave.

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  6. Christmas tamales are the BEST! Merry, Merry Christmas to you and Dave.

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  7. Your Christmas tamales are making me homesick. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and thanks for the Kissed pattern info. It's perfect for my 15yr old.

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  8. Anonymous12:18 AM

    Merry Merry Christmas to you and your family Melody! Here in S CA tamales are quite the Christmas tradition - there's usually someone's Mom/Grandma who makes many many dozens and doles them out! We were the lucky recipient of some from a family who made 15 dozen!!!!! The pot they use puts a canning kettle to shame. A pressure cooker - genius, we'll have to try that! I'm sure your niece enjoyed her knitted goodies from you!Oh, the sweater looks fab!

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  9. I wish you all the best in the world for the New year!

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  10. Anonymous3:06 PM

    Ahh, we had tamales, too, but we couldn't wait for Christmas eve or Christmas. We ate them early. The mother of one of our low-income students at school makes them for me. I ordered 4 dozen. She only charges a dollar a piece. I've made them many times, and I can't imagine being able to make them for a dollar each, time alone is worth more! I usually order four dozen and pay for five so she has some extra $$. Seeing your tamales online made me hungry for them again. I might have to give this mother another call! Happy New Year

    Jeri
    jcleveland03@comcast.net

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  11. Very useful material, much thanks for the article.

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