Directions: |
Directions:Pre-prepare: Using a large knife and cutting board, cut the swiss chard leaves so that all that you have is green, removing the center stem pieces. Chop the remaining leaves into small pieces. Mix them into the bag of pre-prepared masa.
Soak corn husks in extremely hot water while you are
getting other things together, Cut a piece of plastic wrap large
enough to cover both the top and bottom of the tamale press at the
same time.
(I RECOMMEND LATEX GLOVES FOR THIS PART)
Cut out the membrane and seeds from the jalapeno peppers and slice them into 1/2 an inch to 1 inch slices (longway). Keep membranes and seeds in side container if you would like to add heat to some but not all. Rinse them in the sink.
(REMOVE GLOVES)
Rinse the Corn Husks in the kitchen sink with cold water for
about 20 minutes.
Open up the prepared masa. One tamale at a time take a small
handful of the masa and roll into a ball. Place on the plastic wrap
bottom of the tamale press. SLOWLY close the tamale press to
flatten the masa, do this carefully because you don't want it to get
so thin it runs out of the sides of the press. Try to make it about 1/2 an inch thick.
Take a rinsed corn husk. Feel both sides of the husk and find the
smooth side..Carefully place the flattened masa on top of the
smooth side of the corn husk.
Place one slice of the jalapeno green side up in the center of the flattened masa.
Cover with about 1 TBSP of shredded monterrey jack cheese
**If you want heat add a few of the jalapeno seeds or some of the membrane on top of the cheese before folding**
Roll the tamale up by folding the right side in a roll. Pick up
the tamale but dont let the ingredients fall out of the bottom. feel
the tamale for the bottom of where the masa is. Squeeze lightly
like a tube of toothpaste. Fold the bottom of the tamale upwards,
make sure it is being folded upwards along the line where the corn
husk was folded. Pulling it up that way helps to keep ingredients
inside while cooking. DONT CLOSE THE TOP OF THE
TAMALE.
As you complete each tamale, add them to the part of the
tamale steaming pot with all of the holes in it Stuff them in until it
is nice and tight. Add 5 cups of water to the bottom solid piece of
the tamale steaming pot. Set the one with the tamales inside of the
one with water. Place the lid on top.
Cook on a low flame for 1 hour and check your water level
every 30 minutes. After the hour, remove a tamale and set it on a
plate. Wait 2 minutes then try to remove the corn husk slowly. If
the masa no longer sticks to the corn husk then the tamales are
finished cooking. If it still sticks, rewrap the tamale and place back
in the pot. Cook an additional 30 minutes and it should be fully
cooked Test a tamale again as before to confirm. Afterwards,
remove tamales from pot and place in a container with a lid in the
fridge until you are ready to eat them.You could just munch on them while they are hot, but allow them 5 - 10 minutes to cool before eating.
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This recipe for Monterrey Jack Cheese & Jalapeno Tamales is from