Update # 5

Christmas! I love Christmas! Joe and I worked our butts off to make the house look as complete as possible before Christmas Eve because some of our family was planning to stop by and see the place. I am a neat-freak at times, and leaving the house a mess was not an option. So, we got it ready in time and spent the rest of Christmas Eve with Joe's family and Christmas day with my family. Now, a Christmas is never complete without tamales! My eldest sister, my dad, and I made my mom's tamale recipe. She wasn't feeling well, so we did our best to replicate her amazing tamales... and she agreed that they weren't too bad either ;)

*If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you'll find my mom's tamale recipe!!*

Ingredients:

10lb masa - prepared

 Sauce for the Meat

 1/2 med. onion

 1 tomato

 2 garlic cloves

 1tsp oregano 

1/2tsp comino (ground)

 1/2tsp cilantro (seed)

 1/2tsp pepper (seed)

 1/2cup jalapeno juice

 
5 chile pasia (boiled, peeled and seeded)

 Combine all in blender and puree

 * You can put aside some sauce to add to the masa if desired. 

 Meat 

5lb Pork (trositos/stew meat) 

1tblspn salt 

3 garlic cloves 

 Boil until cooked then shred and add the sauce 

 Veggies  

5 Potatoes (peeled and cut into strips) 

6 Carrots (peeled and cut into strips) 

Black olives
Raisins (optional) 

Jalapeno slices (optional) 

 Corn Husks (clean and soak overnight in water to make them plyable) 

 Putting them together 

Spread the masa onto corn husk, place meat and one of each of the veggies (jalapeno optional), tie ends/or fold and
steam until cooked (2-4 hours). 

Once cooked let sit to firm up.

Enjoy!