Duck Tamales With Mole Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl soak the corn husks for 30 minutes.
• In another bowl, add the masa harina and salt and with a whisk, mix well. Slowly add the chicken stock to the masa harina and mix well until a dough-like consistency. Make 10 ping-pong ball size balls of dough.
• In a plastic-lined tortilla press (both sides), press out each ball of dough to form a 5-inch round (about the size of the press). Carefully remove the tortilla, and place a spoonful of amarillo mole sauce, a spoonful of shredded cooked chicken. Fold each side of the tortilla and place in a corn husk length-wise. Secure both ends with a string or part of the husk used as a string, and repeat process.
• Steam for 30 minutes.
• Toast chiles on a griddle. Remove and place in a bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand for 20 minutes.
• In a hot cast iron pan, roast the onion, garlic, tomatillos, and green tomatoes. Roast until well charred on all sides. Place in a bowl and let cool.
• Meanwhile grind peppercorns and cloves in coffee grinder. When the vegetables are cool enough to handle peel off the charred skin and puree them in a blender with the hoja santa leaves, drained chiles, and spices.
• In hot pot, heat the lard, add the pureed strained sauce, and cook for 5 minutes.
• In a small bowl, add the masa harina and water. Mix until well blended. Add this mixture to the sauce and cook for 5 minutes more, until done.

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine the kosher salt and chopped thyme and mix it well. Rub the salt and thyme mixture on both sides of the duck, layering it on thickly. Place legs in a shallow pan and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In the same shallow pan, add the onion, garlic, star anise, canela, and duck fat over the legs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for 3 hours.
• Meanwhile, soak the cornhusks in warm water for 1 hour.
• To make the dough for the tamales, moisten the instant corn flour with the warm water. Set aside. Beat the shortening in a mixer until creamy and fluffy, about 10 minutes, then fold in the corn flour and chicken stock.
• After 3 hours remove the legs from the fat, remove the outer skin and shred the meat away from the bone and set aside.
• To assemble the tamales, open the soaked cornhusks and add 2 tablespoons of dough. Spread the dough over the cornhusk leaving a 1/2-inch border. Put 1 tablespoon of the shredded duck meat in the center in a line. Fold the cornhusk over, enclosing the duck in the dough, and secure the tamale with a string or ripped-off piece of the cornhusks. Repeat the process until all the dough and filling is finished.
• In a double boiler or steamer, steam the tamales for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.
• To make the sour cherry mojo: Soak the dried cherries in a bowl with red wine for 1 hour.
• In a medium saucepot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat. When the oil has begun to smoke, add the shallots, chipotle, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes then deglaze with red wine vinegar and duck stock. Cook for 3 minutes then add the cherry mixture. Cook for 30 minutes until the liquid has thickened. Add the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
• To serve, remove the tamale from the steamer. Open the tamales and serve with a spoon of the cherry mojo.

Steps:

• * Note: Prepared masa with shortening added, for tamales, can be purchased at Latino markets. For the Pork: Cut off the top half of the head of garlic so that the cloves are exposed. Quarter the onion. Cut the pork into 3-inch cubes. Place the pork in a large pot with the bone, if there is one, along with the cut head of garlic and the onion. Add salt to taste and enough water to cover. Bring the water to boil and simmer the pork, covered, for at least 4 hours. Refrigerate the pork overnight, covered. The next day, remove the fat, gristle and the bone, and shred and save the cooked pork. Strain and save the broth to make the mole sauce. For the Filling: Simmer the California and New Mexico chiles in water for 10 minutes to soften them. (Beware the fumes from the cooking chiles.) Cool the chiles. Remove and discard the stems, seeds and veins. Toast the pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds in a skillet over medium heat until golden, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the papery skin from the tomatillos and simmer the tomatillos in the reserved pork broth until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain the tomatillos and set aside, reserving the broth. Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Set it aside. In a blender, combine the seeded chiles, toasted pumpkin and sesame seeds, tomatillos, onion, garlic, salt to taste, cumin and 2/3 cup reserved pork broth. Blend together, then pour the mixture through a sieve, saving the liquid. Return the solids to the blender, along with another 2/3 cup pork broth, and blend again. Pour the mixture through the sieve again, discarding the solids and placing the sauce in a saucepan. Simmer the mole sauce for 30 minutes. Combine the sauce with the reserved shredded pork and set it aside to cool. The filling should not be runny. For the Masa: In the bowl of mixer, combine the masa with the baking powder, about 3 tablespoons of pork broth and the melted lard to "lighten" the masa. Beat together, then test the consistency by breaking off a small piece of masa and trying to float it in water. It is not absolutely necessary that it float, but a light, spongy consistency of the masa is critical to good tamales. The masa can't be beaten too much. For Assembly: Soak the hojas in hot water to soften, about 20 minutes. Sort out the smaller pieces and discard. Drain the large hojas just before filling. Take a large hoja and dry it with a paper towel. Hold the hoja in one hand and spread about 2 tablespoons of masa over the hoja with the back of a spoon, or lay the hoja flat on a table to spread the masa. Place about 2 tablespoons of the pork-mole filling on the masa. Fold over the hoja from the side. Now fold over the opposite side to seal the masa. Fold up the bottom of the hoja. The tamale is ready for steaming. Repeat the process with the remaining tamales. (The tamales may be frozen at this point for steaming later.) If necessary the folded tamale may be tied with a strip of hoja to hold it together. Stand the tamales open-end up in a steamer. You may need to steam them in two batches. Steam the tamales until the masa is cooked and firm, 35 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the remaining tamales. This recipe yields 36 tamales. Each tamale: 205 calories; 159 mg sodium; 28 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 3.09 grams fiber.