The pork was so good that we were even enjoying it cold. Anything that is delicious cold, it will be even better warm. Like ice cream!
Wait, that’s not right. Either way, this pork is definitely something we would consider having another day in another dish. Chef T kept snacking on it that I wasn’t sure if we would have any left for the tamales.
We made plenty of tamales to share with my family. Even my brother tried one after I told him it was like a corndog…it’s kinda true right? Chef T did try to stop him from eating it with ketchup though.
The nice thing about these tamales is that you can make a bunch and then freeze them for later, as an emergency meal. We didn’t make it to freezing them because they were so good we ate them all up. Definitely going to have to make more!
Keep your spices on the food, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Red Chile Pork Tamales
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2 cups masa harina
- 2 cups chicken broth hot
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cumin
- 1 cup butter
For the Pork
- 2 lbs pork butt
- 1 large white onion quartered
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leafs
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
For the Sauce
- 2.5 oz dried Anaheim chiles dried
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp cumin
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Corn Husks
Cilantro, garnish
Instructions
-
Start by soaking your corn husks in cold water. They should soak for at least 2 hours before use.
-
For the dough, start by blending butter with a hand mixer until it is nice and fluffy. Mix in your masa, baking powder and salt. Finally blend in your hot broth slowly until it forms a nice dough.
-
Cut your pork into cubes and toss in your instant pot with all the other meat ingredients. Give it a good stir before you seal it. Hit “Manual” and let cook for 35 minutes. After the 35 minutes, let the steam slow vent for 20 minutes. Shred the pork when you pull it out of the instant pot.
-
While your pork is cooking, get your chiles in a pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then remove from the heat. Let chiles steep for 30 minutes.
-
After 30 minutes, remove the stems and seeds of the chiles. Toss chiles into a blender with remaining sauce ingredients. Blend until smooth, you may need to pass your sauce through a strainer to make it really smooth.
-
Set ½ cup of the sauce to the side to drizzle on your tamales later. Mix the rest of the sauce with the pork.
-
Assembly time! Scrape some dough into your corn husks. You want to spread it leaving a little space on each side, then place meat in the center olives in the center. Roll the corn husk and fold up the bottom. Use a thin strip of corn husk to tie off the tamale.
-
Fill a pot with hot water and place a steaming tray inside. Place the tamales upright on the steam tray with the folded end at the bottom. Steam for an hour covered until dough starts to peel away from husk.
-
To serve, drizzle tamale with extra red chili sauce and sprinkle with cilantro.