El Cholo's Green Corn Tamales

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y ceddar cheese

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I looked over the ingredients and knew right a way that this recipe is very similiar to my moms. I grew up in Monterey Park as they do still. That is very East of East L.A. The demographics for non-Angelinos. El Cholo' are famous for their tamales, but like every hispanic/mexicano knows their family tamales recipes will always be the best. El Cholo's are delicious! My Mom's has a few ingredients that are different which makes them above all the rest. Sorry, this recipe stays with me. Espescialy since only my sister-in-law and I are the only ones who keep it safe. But this recipe comes close and are very good.
***One thing about the lard. There is a brand name called Manteca found near the butter, refrigerated pickles/puddings areas of most all supermarkets but....that is an ingredient of old, especially among people with heart/high blood pressure etc... Regular vegetable oil or olive oil is whipped into your masa mixture for subst. and they are much more healthier than the lard.

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I have been using this recipe for about three years now. I first tasted this type of tamale while visiting Reno, NV. On my flight home -- the Southwest Air magazine had this recipe from El Cholo in it. These tamales, unlike normal tamales, have a sweet taste to them because of the sugar. They are great.

I have modified the recipe some. Instead of fresh corn, I use frozen corn. I use Jack cheese instead of the Cheddar. I use a whole green chile covered with cheese in each tamale. I soak the corn husks for three or four hours before placing the 'masa' mix on them. I DO NOT place a layer of masa on top of the cheese and chile like the recipe states. I find that this makes a too thick layer of masa around the filling.

You want the thickness of the masa mixture to be fairly thin. You want to be able to lay out the corn husk or husks, depending on how wide they are and then drop some masa mixture on them and spread it out using a wide blade putty knife. I have watched the pros do it using plastic spreaders about 3 to 4 inches wide. The masa should be no thicker than a 1/4 " . Then lay down the chile and cover with shredded Jack cheese. Roll the tamale up and use a thin strip of corn husk to tie a bow around it and keep it from un-rolling.

I fold the bottoms up on the husks and stand the tamales upright in a steamer. The tops on the tamales are open. In a steamer, the steam rises until it hits the lid and then it condenses and turns to water and drops back down. You do not want this water getting into the tamales. I place tinfoil over the tops of the tamales so the water is deflected and runs back into the bottom of the pot. Use real "lard". Safeway, in my area, usually has five pound boxes around the meat area. Lard does not need to be refrigerated. If you can't find lard-- then use Crisco.
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