Eat This! Easy Crock Pot Tamales

For those of you who aren’t familiar Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish made with seasoned meats and wrapped in a dough made of cornmeal them wrapped in banana leaves or corn husks. Typically Tamales are something you see around the holidays. They can be extremely labor intensive so they tend to be something saved for a special occasion. I don’t feel like waiting for the next big holiday to enjoy one of my favorite Latin dishes. Now there are many different ways to prepare and cook tamales. Some recipes wrap the tamales in corn husks some in banana leaves some steam some cook in Dutch ovens… but the results are pretty much the same YUMMY!!!  Well , I have fantastic news for all of you…not only is this recipe super easy but instead of standing over a large steaming pot of water and steaming tamales in batches for 30-40 minutes at a time, you will be simply prepping rolling wrapping and then tossing them straight into your crock pot for two hours and that’s it! So lets get to it! Make sure you have plenty of counter space! P.S. You can freeze them and when you go to reheat simply steam them for about 15-20 minutes over boiling water!

1 package frozen banana leaves, or dried corn husks

THE DOUGH:

1 cup Shortening

3 cups Masa Harina

1 tsp salt

2 cups chicken broth

FILLING;

½ lb cooked and shredded chicken

1 can red enchilada sauce

Thaw the banana leaves and set aside.

Place the lard & salt in a large mixing bowl & beat on high speed until fluffy.  Add masa harina & beat at a low speed until combined. Pour in beef broth a little at a time while mixing until the masa is the consistency of soft cookie dough

For the filling simply combine the chicken and red sauce and set aside.

Lay a banana leaf rectangle on a flat surface. Place about 1/4 cup of the masa in the middle, and spread into a rectangle about 2 inches by 4 inches. Cover masa with 1-2 tablespoons of the chicken filling. Cover with another thin layer of masa.

Fold the sides of the banana leaf in over the filling, then fold up the bottom half over the filling, then fold the top half down and roll tamale until well wrapped. Tie tamale with a piece of kitchen string or a strip of banana leaf to secure it. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Place wrapped tamales upwards in the crock pot and cook for 2- 2 ½ Hours on High Heat. Be careful because  when you unwrap them from the leaves they will be super hot when you open them up!!