Ecuadorean Ecuadorian Tamales De Navidad For Christmas Recipes

ECUADOREAN ECUADORIAN TAMALES DE NAVIDAD - FOR CHRISTMAS

Steps:

• Place whole chicken in large pot with water to cover. Add 1 whole onion, 1 garlic clove, 2 sprigs parsley, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cook on medium heat until the chicken is falling off the bone.
• Remove chicken from water & cool.
• Strain broth and reserve 4 cups.
• When cool, skin and bone chicken. Shed chicken meat.
• Add 2 tbsp oil in skillet and add 1/2 diced onion. Sauté over low heat until very soft. Add peanut butter and mix until melted, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp sugar, milk and allspice. Cook until almost ready to boil. Remove from heat and set aside.
• In large heavy pot, place masa flour and 3 cups cooled broth. First whisk and then continue to mix with strong wooden spoon. Cook over medium high heat, do not let lumps form. Turn often with wooden spoon. When a thin dark brown crust forms on the bottom of the pot, it is done.
• Let masa cool in pot until lukewarm. Turn masa out onto board or waxed paper.
• When cool enough to handle, add butter, and lard if you are using it. Knead in by hand. Add 6 oz sugar and knead it. Taste a bit of masa for salt. If your broth was not salty, add 1/2-3/4 tsp salt. Add in the 3 eggs, one at a time. Knead well.
• Separate out balls of dough, about the size of a small lemon. Place in center of each banana leaf or foil or parchment paper square wrapper and pat out with your hand until each is about 6" round.
• Place about 1/4 c chicken filling onto each masa round.
• Place one piece of hard-boiled egg, one olive, 1 slice red bell pepper, 3 pieces of parboiled onion and 3 raisins on top of chicken mixture on each masa round.
• Fold over each round into half-moon shape and press edges together well.
• Fold over wrapper and tie with kitchen twine if using banana leaves. if using foil or parchment paper, seal edges well.
• Place tamales, in batches, in steamer and steam for 30 minutes.
• Serve with wrapper still on. Each person opens their own.
• If you want to omit a certain filling ingredient from some of them, you can tie different colors of thread around those to identify them later.

ECUADOREAN POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat butter in large saucepan. add onions and saute for 10 minutes, add flour and mix until smooth.
• Add chicken broth gradually, stirring constantly until boiling. add potatoes, saffron, salt and chile powder & simmer for 20 minutes.
• Add milk and peas and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
• Beat the eggs and cream cheese together in a bowl and gradually add 2 cups of the hot soup, beat constantly to avoid curdling.
• Return the contents of the bowl to the saucepan and heat through but do not boil.
• Place a few slices of avocado in each soup bowl and pour soup over them. serve.

CHRISTMAS TAMALES

Steps:

• Soak the Ancho and Guajillo chilis in water overnight or for 3 hours at least. The seeds should float to the top and are discarded. Go over Chili each pepper and clean off any dirt and remove stems and pods. Meanwhile, saute the onion in 2 tablespoons of Corn oil till translucent and soft, on a medium heat, stirring often. Turn down the heat and add all the Ancho and Guajillo peppers, and saute to bring out the flavors. Keep stirring on a medium-low heat making sure not to burn anything. After the Chili peppers are sizzling, add in the fresh cilantro and saute for 3 minutes more, then add the Ro-Tel, on a low heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Cook the ground beef till browned and drain off the liquid. Transfer the ground beef to a mixing bowl and with a wooden spoon, mix in 2 tablespoons each of Cumin, oregano, dried onion, cayenne, and white pepper, and set aside. Back to the chili pepper mixture: Let it cool, then put it all in the Blender with 2 cups more Chicken stock and blend till it forms a smooth sauce. Combine the blended peppers with the seasoned Ground Beef & incorporate everything well. This filling mixture should sit and marinate in the refrigerator overnight, or at least 3-4 hours.
• Now do the mixing: The first step to mixing the batter is to season the Masa Mix. Open the package and in a large mixing bowl sift together the mix with 3 tablespoons each of the dried onion, cumin, cayenne, oregano, and white pepper. For the actual mixing, start by pouring 3 cups of corn oil into the seasoned Masa Mix, then take an electric mixer on a low speed and as you mix by machine in one hand, use the other hand to slowly pour in a super-small amount chicken stock. You want to keep machine-mixing till it forms a paste. If it doesn't seem to be holding together, add in more oil as you machine-mix. If it's too dry, simply add a larger amount of chicken stock. Once it forms a reasonably batter-like paste, it is ready to be assembled with the filling. Or, it can be folded up and wrapped in plastic, just like a dough, and sit in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, for whenever you are ready to assemble and fill the tamales.
• Soak the Corn husks in water, overnight, or until 3 hours before Tamales are ready to be assembled. The husks should be just slightly damp when ready to be assembled and filled.
• After the filling has sat, marinating in the refrigerator, it needs to be briefly heated to make sure all the flavors have incorporated. This can be done in the microwave, stirring frequently, or on the stove.
• Fill a large stock pot that has a steamer insert, with a small amount of water. The water should not touch the bottom of the insert. Set aside.
• To start assembling, take a damp corn husk and spread the batter over it. Take a large spoonful of the ground beef filling and put in the middle. Now close up the husk, just like an envelope and wrap in parchment paper, cut to size. Place the filled, parchment-papered tamale, upright, standing up, inside the steamer on top of the steamer insert. Repeat these steps until you use up all the filling and the steamer is lined with tamales standing up. You may place a second layer of filled tamales on top of the first layer, as long as they are standing up. If the stock pot is deep enough, and a large enough amount of tamales to be filled, you might end up having 3 or 4 layers going up the sides of the steamer.
• The tamales steam on low for about 3 hours. Check by simply taking one and opening up the parchment to make sure the batter is firm and done. Serve with my Homemade Salsa (see different recipe).

SWEET TAMALES WITH YAMS AND PECANS

Steps:

• Place yam in a steamer basket and steam for 15 minutes or until very tender; mash with brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter; set aside.
• Place masa, remaining butter, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat in enough broth to make a soft dough. Lightly stir in yam mixture and pecans, leaving some small chunks of yam and taking care not to overmix.
• Spoon about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mixture in the center of each corn husk, depending on how large you want them to be. Fold in sides, then tie the ends with small strips of corn husk. (Go ahead and make a square knot on each end--when they are cooked, the knotted strip slips right off the ends.).
• Place in a steamer basket and cook, covered, for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes before serving with Chipotle Cream.
• For Chipotle Cream: Stir together sour cream and minced canned chipotle pepper. Add more adobo sauce to taste.
• Chef tip: For a great appetizer, make these in mini size. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of yam mixture into a smaller piece of corn husk; steam for only 30 minutes.