Neighborhood Eats: Hot Tamales at City Tamale
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Israel Veliz grew up eating tamales like New Yorkers eat bagels, and now, a version of the tamales his mom made in Puebla, Mexico, appear on the menu at his Hunts Point restaurant.
City Tamale is a take-out business, however, it does has a few counter seats.
And there are a variety of tamales, including breakfast and dessert options.
It's three tamales for $6, making it a quick, tasty, affordable lunch that works well in this neighborhood by the fruit and fish markets.
His most popular tamale is with pork and salsa rojo, but there are also tacos and burritos.
City Tamale is open seven days a week.
Tamale Rojas Recipe
For these tamales, you will first need to make the guajillo costeño sauce.
Ingredients
--9 dry guajillo chiles (stemmed, and seeded)
--5 dry costeño chiles (stemmed, and seeded)
--1 stick of cinnamon
--1 tsp cloves
--1 tsp cumin
--6 cloves of garlic
--8 oz Tomato paste
--8 oz pureed tomatoes
--salt to taste
Combine all these ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Pour mixture into a large sauce pot on low heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Next, you will need roasted pork for the filling.
Ingredients for the masa
--2 cups of corn masa
--1 cup of pork or chicken stock
--1 tsp salt
--1 tsp baking powder
--1 cup water
--1 cup vegetable oil
--dried corn husks
Directions:
--First, soak the corn husks in a bowl of boiling water for about 30 minutes.
--Using electric mixer, mix the masa, oil, water into you get a thick, fluffy dough.
--Add remaining ingredients (except for the husks) and continue to mix.
--Spoon the masa into cork husk, place 2 tsp of the pork and 2 tsp of the guajillo costeño sauce on top of the masa.
--Start on one side and roll the filling into you the other end.
--Twist the ends of the husk and tuck under.
--Place in steamer and steam for 45 minutes.
For more, visit CityTamale.com.
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