Pork & Cactus Leaf Tamales

I had a lot of fun making these. It took around 2 days, so I don’t know how soon I’ll be doing this again but they came out amazing and I learned technique as I worked with some ingredients I’ve never used before like lard and cactus leaf. I hope someone gives my recipe a shot and tells me how it goes!

Making the filling:

Soak the pork loin in the Mexican ale for at least 6 hours. Near the end of this period, crush your garlic, quarter the onion, cut the stems off of the peppers, dice the cactus leaf and place all of the filling ingredients except cilantro (and the pork and beer) into a food processor, pulse slowly until paste is fine.

Place the loins and beer into a large slow-cooker and set it to low, cover with the paste you just made. Allow this to cook for about 14 hours. The pork is done once it is easily shredded by hand. Once the pork has finished cooking transfer the paste to a saucepan and reduce it over low-medium heat until thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. While waiting for this to reduce, shred the pork by hand and then mix in the reduction.

While the pork is cooking, soak the corn husks in warm water for a few hours until soft.

Making the Masa:

In a large mixing bowl combine the corn meal, salt, baking powder and sour cream. Mix together lightly, then slowly knead in the lard. Lastly, slowly add the broth and knead this mixture until you have a ball of masa that is sticky to the touch but stays together.

Putting it all together:

At this point you should chop some fresh cilantro and sprinkle it in with the pork.

Find a place to sit comfortably for an hour or so. Lay out a corn husk with the wide end facing away from you, take a small bit of masa, roughly 2 Tablespoons in size and work it out to a flat sheet on the husk. Then place a few spoonfuls of your filling in the center in a line. Fold the two sides of the husks together and pinch the masa together. Roll this up and fold the small end up to close. Repeat for a long time until done with all of the masa, filling and husks!

Once you’ve rolled up all of your tamales, place them on a steamer basket in a large stew pot. Place about a half a cup of water in the bottom of the pot and bring to a boil, covered for about 10 minutes. ** The water should not be touching the tamales! Remove the lid and allow the tamales to steam for about an hour or until the tamale pulls away from the husk with no masa left behind.

Enjoy!