Easy Cuban chicken Tamales #CubanTamales

chicken

🥗Healthier: turkey

💰Cheaper: pork

Turkey is leaner, while pork is often more affordable.

corn masa

🥗Healthier: quinoa flour

💰Cheaper: all-purpose flour

Quinoa flour is gluten-free and nutritious, while all-purpose is more accessible.

olive oil

🥗Healthier: avocado oil

💰Cheaper: vegetable oil

Avocado oil offers health benefits, while vegetable oil is budget-friendly.

chicken broth

🥗Healthier: vegetable broth

💰Cheaper: water with seasoning

Vegetable broth is lighter, while water with seasoning is cost-effective.

Welcome to my kitchen; today we're making Cuban chicken tamales.

For the ingredients, I'm using two chicken breasts and three ears of corn.

I'm also using half a cup of tomato sauce and 1 cup of cornmeal.

I like my masa a little drier, so I add more cornmeal.

I'm using one onion, three large garlic cloves, and half of a green pepper and red pepper.

I may throw in some ai kachucha, which are sweet peppers.

I'm also using homemade sasson and nana agria, which is sour oranges.

I washed my chicken and removed the fat.

I'm adding dry seasoning to the chicken on both sides.

I'm juicing three sour oranges and one large garlic clove for the marinade.

I'm using a mortar and pestle to make the marinade and adding the chicken to it.

Let the chicken marinate for about 1 hour.

While it's marinating, I'm dicing up my vegetables.

To speed up the process, I sometimes use a food processor, but I'm chopping by hand today.

Next, I'm cutting up my corn and removing the ends and husks to use for wrapping the masa.

I'm removing the corn kernels into a bowl to avoid mess.

I'm blending the corn kernels with a little water, keeping it drier than wetter.

My pureed corn is ready to go into a bowl, and I'm adding cornmeal little by little until I get the consistency I like, aiming for about 1 cup.

Now I'm frying my vegetables to make my soprito for about 5 minutes until soft.

After 5 minutes, I'm adding in my chicken and cooking it for 7 to 8 minutes or until done.

I'm adding 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, and if needed, I can add more if the chicken is dry.

Now I'm wrapping my tamales; the corn husks are small, so I'm using wider Mexican corn husks as well.

To soften the corn husks, I'm adding hot water and letting them sit for 30 minutes to an hour.

You can speed this up by microwaving them in a bowl with water.

Next, I'm mixing the meat filling into the corn puree and adjusting seasoning as needed.

I'm filling the corn husk with the mixture, trying not to overfill.

I'm folding the ends up to make a little cup and wrapping it with another corn husk, then folding the top down.

I'm tying the tamales with some twine or strips of corn husk.

Now we're ready to steam the tamales for about an hour and a half.

I prefer steaming over boiling to avoid sogginess.

If you have a steamer, use that; otherwise, you can use a rack in a pot with about 2 inches of water.

Cover and let it steam for up to an hour and a half, checking periodically to ensure there's enough water.

I'm adding more water as needed and flipping the tamales for even cooking.

After an hour and a half, I'm checking the tamales for texture; they should be firm.

If they take longer, just cook them longer as needed.

Today I got about 12 tamales from this recipe.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level: