
How To Make Cuban Tamales
Make this Cuban variety of tamales filled with sausages, pork ribs, and herbs for a smoky and savory meal. These Cuban tamales are tender and flavorful.
Serves:
Ingredients
- ¼cupolive oil,divided
- 1½lbscountry-style pork ribs,boneless cut into small pieces
- 1cupdry white wine,divided
- 2cupswater
- 10clovesgarlic,minced, divided
- 2tbsptomato paste,divided
- 2beef bouillon cubes,such as Knorr®
- 2bay leaves
- 1tspground cumin
- 1tsporegano,dried
- ½tspground black pepper
- 2linksspanish chorizo sausage,such as Goya®, thinly sliced
- 1yellow onion,diced
- 1small green bell pepper,chopped
- ½cuppimento-stuffed green olives
- 4cupsfrozen corn,thawed
- 1½cupsmasa harina
- 2tbspwhite sugar
- 1tbspwhite vinegar
- 1tspsalt,or to taste
- 8ozcorn husks,(1 package) dried, soaked in warm water
- ½kitchen twine,cut into 12″ lengths
Instructions
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Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook and stir pork in hot oil until lightly browned for about 5 to 7 minutes.
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Pour ½ cup of white wine into the saucepan and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
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Stir water, 5 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 beef bouillon cube, bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and black pepper to pork mixture.
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Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, partially cover the saucepan with a lid, and simmer until pork is very tender, 1 to 2 hours. Transfer pork to a bowl and reserve cooking liquid.
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Heat remaining olive oil in a deep pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir chorizo and cooked pork in hot oil until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
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Stir onion, green pepper, and remaining minced garlic into chorizo mixture; saute until vegetables soften and onion is translucent, for about 5 minutes.
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Add remaining white wine, olives, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, and remaining bouillon cube; cook, stirring frequently, until flavors combine, about 5 minutes more.
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Pulse corn and 1 ½ cups reserved pork broth together in a blender or food processor until the mixture has a thick and chunky consistency.
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Stir corn mixture into the pork-chorizo mixture.
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Reduce heat to medium and stir masa harina, sugar, vinegar, and salt into pork mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture has a hearty cornmeal porridge-consistency. Season with salt and remove from heat.
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Make a pocket out of one corn husk and fill 3/4 full with pork mixture, leaving a top flap. Wrap another husk around the filled pocket. Fold the top flap over the pocket.
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Tie twine length- and width-wise around the tamale several times so that packet is secure, but has room for filling to expand during cooking. Repeat with remaining husks and filling.
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Fill a pot with 2-inches of water; bring to a simmer. Place tamales upright in simmering water, cover the pot, and cook, adding water as necessary, until filling is hot and set about 40 minutes.
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Cool tamales until completely set, at least 3 hours.
Nutrition
- Calories:Â 148.15kcal
- Fat:Â 7.31g
- Saturated Fat:Â 1.60g
- Trans Fat:Â 0.02g
- Monounsaturated Fat:Â 3.27g
- Polyunsaturated Fat:Â 0.84g
- Carbohydrates:Â 12.76g
- Fiber:Â 1.27g
- Sugar:Â 2.42g
- Protein:Â 7.39g
- Cholesterol:Â 21.76mg
- Sodium:Â 239.10mg
- Calcium:Â 23.14mg
- Potassium:Â 211.14mg
- Iron:Â 1.12mg
- Vitamin A: 5.82µg
- Vitamin C:Â 4.86mg
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