Corn & Ancho Chile Tamales

While tamales can be a lot of work to make, the end result is oodles of delicious goodness that's great for a crowd or for frozen leftovers. 

Ingredients

2 ears of corn, with the fresh corn cut off the cob

4 dried ancho chiles

2 cups masa harina

2 cups water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 cup goat cheddar, shredded

corn husks

Make

Wash and soak the corn husks in warm water, leave them in the warm water as you complete the next steps.

In a small pot, cover the ancho chilies with water and bring to a boil on medium heat.  Let simmer until the chilies have softened and then remove from heat.

Once cool, strip the outer skin from the chilies, remove the stems and seeds, and chop the remaining flesh.

In a medium bowl, combine the corn and ancho chili bits. Mix together well.

Heat a medium skillet on medium high, toss the corn and ancho chiles for just about 2-3 minutes in the skillet and then pour them back into the bowl. Set aside to let cool.

In a medium pot, combine the water, olive oil, and salt. Bring to a boil.

Remove the pot from the heat, add the masa harina, and stir together quickly until a dough has been formed. Set aside to cool for about 10-15 minutes, or until it's cool enough to form dough balls with your hands.

Add the shredded goat cheddar to the corn and chile mixture and toss to combine.

To steam the tamales, set up a wok with a bamboo steamer set in the center.  Fill the wok with water until just below the slats of the steamer. Begin to heat the water on medium high to bring to a boil when the tamales have been put together.

Once the dough has cooled, form 2 inch balls with your hands and set aside.

Using two corn husks, place in the crossed pattern like the picture above.

Place a dough ball in the center and press down slightly.

Add about 1/4 of the corn and chili mixture on top of the dough.

Wrap the filling with the inner corn husk and then wrap with the outer corn husk.

Place in the steamer.

Repeat until all the dough balls have been used. (Depending on the size of your steamer, you may need to stack one layer of tamales on top of another.)

Place the steamer top over the tamales.

Once the water has begun to boil, steam at medium to medium low, for about 1 hour. 

Making sure to add more water if the level gets lower than 1 inch.

Makes about 10 tamales.