Feeling Mexican Part Doux: Chicken Tomales with salsa verde

This was my first time making tomales, and I must say, I impressed myself. Well, my fiancee also helped, so, really, we impressed ourselves. This is a big chore and takes quite a while. I highly recommend that you make the salsa verde a day ahead and let it sit in the fridge. It will develop more flavor and lighten your work load the day you are making the tomales. I also recommend you invite over a friend or two to help you make the tamales, as the more people the merrier! (It also really lessens your load)

Ordinarily, I roast a chicken for dinner. While the chicken is roasting, I will make the salsa verde and soak the corn husks. This way, the next morning, I can use the meat from the chicken, and will be ready to make the tomales-chicken, salsa verde and soaked corn husks-all ready to go. You can also use one of those store bought, precooked chickens. I found one at a Mexican grocery store in Fruitvale that was seasoned with salt and limes. It was delicious and make excellent filling for the tomales!


Ingredients
Corn Husk shells
1 8 oz package dried corn husks

Filling
1 recipe for salsa verde
4 cups coarsely shredded packed chicken
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dough
1 1/3 cup lard
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if masa mixture contains salt)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (omit if masa mixture contains baking powder)
4 cups freshly ground masa dough for tomales (if you can't get hold of masa dough, you can make your own. Add 3 1/2 cups of masa harina with 2 1/4 cups of warm water.
2 cups rich dark chicken stock

For the corn husk shells:
Place the dried corn husks in a semi-deep baking pan. Add water to the pan, so the husks are submerged.  Place a metal baking sheet over the husks and a heavy weight on top of the metal baking sheet (I used a wine bottle). Let it stand, turning occasionally, for 3 hours minimum or overnight (see note above).















For the Filling
With a good carving knife, slice all the flesh from the roasted chicken. With your hands, begin to shred the chicken by peeling the flesh off in strings.

Combine the shredded chicken, cilantro and salsa verde and mix well. You can also make this filling a day in advance--the flavor will only deepen in the fridge!





For the Dough
Using an electric mixer, beat the lard (with the salt and baking powder, if using) in a large bowl until fluffy. I got one of those Kichen Aid Electric Mixer's from William Sonoma for Christmas last year and used that. It worked brilliantly. Beat in the masa dough in small additions, making sure that the flour, dough and lard mix well. Reduce the speed to low and gradually beat in 1.5 cups chicken stock. The dough should be soft and somewhat silky. If the dough seems firm, beat in more chicken stock, 2 tablespoons at a time, until it is soft.









Assembly
You will need to make ties to tie the tomales together, so the filling won't come out. After the corn husks have soaked for the appropriate amount of time, tear 3 large husks into 1/4 inch wide strips.








Open 2 large husks on a work surface. Spread 1/4 cup of the dough onto the center of one of the husks, leaving a 2-3 inch plain border at the narrow end of the husk. Take a heaping tablespoon of the filling and spread it in a strip down the center of the dough. Fold the long sides of the husk and dough over the filling to cover. Fold up the narrow end of the husk. Tie the folded portion with the tie to secure, leaving the wide end  of  the tomale open.

Cooking
Take a large stock pot and place a metal steamer in the bottom. Add water until the water level is just barely touching the metal steamer. Take a few of the corn husks and place them on the steamer.

Stand the tomales in the steamer, so the wide open end is facing up towards you. Now, when you first start placing tomales in there, the weight will be uneven and the steamer will want to fall off. I usually try to balance that out by placing one tomales on the outermost edge of the steamer at 12 o'clock, and another one at 6 o'clock. Place on at 9 o'clock and another at 3 o'clock, etc.

Once you have 4 tomales or so in the pot, add water until the water line is barely touching the tomales. (Adding water at this point lets you see if the water line is touching the tomales or not. If you put in more tomales before adding the water, you wont be able to see if the water level is right, and it will be difficult to pout the water into the pot).

Continue placing the tomales on the outer edge of the steamer in a similar manner. Once the entire outer circumference of the pot has been filling, start place the tomales in the next inner circle. If the tomales need to lean on the original circle that is fine. Continue placing the tomales in a similar fashion until you have reached the center of the pot. I usually do not place a tomale in the exact center of the pot, but leave it empty. This way, if I need to add more water for steaming I can easily aim and shoot the water in the pot, without disturbing the tomales. If you have more tomales, but have no more room to place a tomale upright, then you are done--steam this batch and then steam a second batch later. Don't place the tomales sideways, because all of the filling will seep out.

Once you have placed as many tomales as you can in the pot, bring the pot to a boil with the cover off. Cover the pot and let the tomales steam until the dough is firm and separates easily from the husk, about 45 minutes. It helps to have one of those see through covers, as you can check the water level. If the water level is getting too low, add more water.

After 45 minutes, turn off the heat and let the tomales rest for about 10 minutes. This accomplishes two things: 1) it will allow the tomales to continue to cook even when the heat is off and 2) The tomales will cool off enough so you can pick them up by hand.

Take out one of the tomales, tear off the skins and dig in. The dough should be thoroughly cooked and soft. If it is not, continue to cook the remainder of the tomales for another 5 to 10 minutes.

The brilliant part of this recipe is that since you are using cooked chicken to start with, you don't have to worry about raw chicken, salmonella or if the chicken cooked thoroughly.

You can serve these tomales with more salsa verde. I made them with a fresh salsa of black beans, tomatoes, onion and coriander. They were absolutely fantastic!

Unless you are having a bunch of dinner guests over, chances are you will not be able to eat all of the tomales in a single sitting. Chuck the rest in a ziplock bag and place in the freezer. They retain their flavor and integrity just fine! To reheat, I will put them in a Chinese bamboo steamer and steam for 10-15 minutes. They taste absolutely delicious!

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