Tamale Bell Peppers Recipes

Steps:

• Place pork into a Dutch oven with onion and garlic, and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the meat is cooked through, about 2 hours.
• Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat to cool. Transfer the chiles and water to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture, stir in salt, and set aside. Shred the cooked meat and mix in one cup of the chile sauce.
• Soak the corn husks in a bowl of warm water. In a large bowl, beat the lard with a tablespoon of the broth until fluffy. Combine the masa harina, baking powder and salt; stir into the lard mixture, adding more broth as necessary to form a spongy dough.
• Spread the dough out over the corn husks to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Place one tablespoon of the meat filling into the center. Fold the sides of the husks in toward the center and place in a steamer. Steam for 1 hour.
• Remove tamales from husks and drizzle remaining chile sauce over. Top with sour cream. For a creamy sauce, mix sour cream into the chile sauce.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a 2 quart saucepan.
• Saute garlic and onion until softened, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add chili powder and ground cumin and cook briefly.
• Stir in tomatoes, corn meal and salt.
• Cook and stir occasionally until mixture is thick and bubbling, about 10 minutes.
• When thick stir in beans, corn, and 1/2 cup cheese.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• While cornmeal cooks, slice tops from peppers.
• Remove seeds and inner ribs.
• Blanch peppers in boiling water for about 4 minutes.
• Drain well.
• Spoon cornmeal mixture into peppers.
• Place peppers upright into baking pan.
• Top thickly with remaining cheese.
• Pour hot water about 1/2 inch deep around peppers.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Steps:

• Husk corn, discarding the silk. Place corn husks in a large pot and pour boiling water over them, and allow to soak for 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry, leaving moist but not wet.
• Cut the kernels from the corn to equal about 1 1/2 cups. Of this amount, puree 1 cup of the kernels in a food processor and leave the other kernels whole. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil and saute onion until translucent. Add ground beef, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, celery salt, and salt and pepper, and cook until browned. Drain off extra fat and divide into even amounts per the number of tamales you will be making.
• Combine cornmeal, salt, and 1 cup water in a mixing bowl. Bring another 1 cup of water to a boil and stir in cornmeal mixture, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, baking powder, pureed corn, whole corn kernels, and jalapeno.
• The tamales are eaten directly from the corn husk casings in which they are steamed. To make tamale casings for steaming: Tear corn husks into strips. Some of these will be woven together and should be at least an inch wide. You will also need about 16 narrower strips (1/4 to 1/2 inch wide) to secure the ends of the tamales. Lay 4 strips or so side by side, and then weave another 4 or so through in a perpendicular fashion to make 8 rectangles about 8 inches square. Each tamale will be filled with even amounts of the corn mixture, beef mixture and cheese. Spoon some of the corn mixture (between 2 and 4 tablespoons) into the center of each tamale case and spread to make a layer. Then spoon an even amount of the ground beef mixture into the center of corn mixture on each tamale. Top beef mixture with even amounts of cheese on each tamale. At this point, begin 1 or 2 pans of boiling water, each fitted with a steaming rack (You will need enough steaming space over the pans to accommodate the tamales.) Fold the corn husks so the corn filling encases the meat filling and cheese. Secure the ends of the tamales casings by tying shut with pieces of corn husk. Place tamales on racks and steam - covered - for about 20 minutes to a half hour, replenishing water in pan(s) as needed. Let rest briefly before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Slice off the top of each pepper and clean out the seeds.
• Combine tomatoes, black beans, corn, onion, salsa, 3/4 c of the cheese, cornmeal, cilantro, cumin and water. Mix well.
• Spoon veggie mixture into the peppers.
• Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of each pepper.
• Place peppers in an 8x8" baking pan and fill with 1/2" of water.
• Bake 50 minutes, or until peppers are tender and the filling is heated through.
• Let stand 5 minutes before serving warm, garnished with green onions and cilantro.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400ºF.
• Prepare corn muffin batter in large bowl as directed on package. Stir in sour cream, corn, cheese and ham.
• Spoon into pepper halves; place on foil-covered baking sheet.
• Bake 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers of filling comes out clean. Serve topped with salsa.