While these are NOT a traditional tamales recipe, they are easy turkey tamales made with leftover Thanksgiving meat. Deliciously soft dough and meaty filling inside every corn husks.
Ingredients For the Dough: – 3 cups Masa Harina – 1 cup Crisco or Lard – 2.5 cups Chicken Broth or Water – 1 packet Taco Seasoning Mix – 7 ounce Package Corn Husks For the Turkey Filling: – 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil – 1 Onion, Finely Chopped (1cup) – ½ cup Chicken Broth – 2 cloves Garlic, Minced – 3 ½ cups Chopped Cooked Turkey – 1 packet Taco Seasoning Mix
Prep – Soak corn husks in a bowl of warm water until softened, 20 min; drain. Dough – Mix masa and taco seasoning together in a bowl. Stir in crisco or lard into masa mixture. – Add in the broth or water, 1 cup at a time, to the masa mixture until dough is smooth and the consistency of thick peanut butter. You may not need it all.
Turkey Filling – Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; saute onion and garlic until softened and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. – Remove skillet from heat and add turkey, taco seasoning packet. Stir reserved ½ cup turkey broth into filling until moistened. – Return to heat and stir until the seasoning looks dissolved and there is no water running around on the pan.
Assembly – Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon the dough in the center of each corn husk. – Top filling with 1 heaping tablespoon filling. – Roll husk around dough and filling, tucking bottom of husk into tamale. – Tie a corn husk strip or string around each tamale to secure. Making these ties is actually optional, I just think it looks pretty. If you want to omit this step, just fold the bottom over and make sure to have enough in the basket to keep the tamales upright.
Cook – Place a steamer basket insert into a large pot and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. – Bring water to a boil. Stand tamales upright in the steamer, cover, and steam until cooked through, about 1 hour. Add more water as needed to keep the pan from running dry. – Serve with warmed enchilada sauce, mole, or sauce of choosing.