Since pre-Hispanic times, tamales have been the number one festive food. Everywhere in Mexico tamales are fiesta food — the equivalent of saying, “Let’s party!” On all occasions like weddings, baptisms, village saint’s days and the Days of the Dead when only the best will do, some kind of tamales will be the most treasured item on the menu. The further south you go in the country, the more amazing and inventive the range of different tamales becomes. Chiapas, Oaxaca’s next neighbor and the southernmost state of Mexico, is considered the premier tamal state. But Oaxacan tamales are nearly as famous. The more of them I discover, the more there still is to discover.
The usual concept of a tamal is that it’s a masa mixture with or without ingredients, cooked in a steamer inside a folded packet of leaves or husks. But Oaxacan tamales aren’t necessarily limited to that. There are ones that are baked in ovens or on griddles, and ones made with no real wrapping. The regional variations are dizzying.
In Teotitlán del Valle I have had tamales in the Valley Zapotec style that are made by forming thin corn tortillas, topping them with some mole amarillo and shredded chicken, and elegantly rolling them in cornstalk leaves to create a pure, virtually fatless dish probably very close to Oaxaca’s pre-Hispanic roots.
These are the tamales that they serve on the Days of the Dead. I have never been able to reproduce them here because, as well as I get along with the farmers at the Union Square Market, I’ve never been able to get them to bring me the corn leaves (“That’s fodder for the pigs,” they say) needed for these distinctive tamal.
The folding technique is not easy to master because it involves taking the raw, filled, and folded tortilla and then placing it sideways on the leaf and start folding it into a triangle.
Oaxacan Tamales de Mole Amarillo
Ingredients
- 1 pound finely ground masa about 2 cups, either fresh or reconstituted by mixing 1½ cups masa harina with 1¼ cups warm homemade chicken stock (or water)
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 10 large dried corn husks soaked
- 2 large or 4 medium-sized fresh hoja santa leaves or 4-5 dried leaves, crumbled
- 1½ cups
Mole amarillo - 1 cup cooked shredded chicken
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the masa and salt, working well with your hands to mix evenly. (If using masa harina, add the salt before mixing in the stock or water.) Form the dough into 10 Ping-Pong-sized balls.
- Drain the corn husks and pat dry. Have them on the counter ready to fill.
- Working with one ball of dough at a time and keeping the rest covered with a damp cloth, prepare a tortilla press and press out the dough into a 5-inch round. Gently peel off the plastic liner.
- Carefully holding the tortilla in the palm of one hand, place 1 heaping tablespoon of mole amarillo in the center. Place several pieces of shredded chicken over it and top with a piece of the reserved hoja santa. (If using dried hoja santa, sprinkle about ½ teaspoon over the chicken.) Fold together the sides of the tortilla to enclose the filling; it is not necessary to close the open ends.
- Carefully place the filled tortilla lengthwise in the center of a corn husk. Fold the sides of the husk together, taking care to keep it seam side up.
- Place the tamales on the steamer rack, seam side up, stacking in layers as necessary but making sure that they lie flat on the rack.
- Steam, tightly covered, over medium-low heat for about 30-35 minutes.
