Spicy pork shoulder tamale with mole.I used the basic tamale recipe here, with the following changes.
To the meat, I added a section (one wedge) of mexican chocolate, ground.
To that, three tablespoons of dry-roasted pumpkin seeds.
I ground those, too, and added them to two cups of shredded pork, and 1/2 cup of Candeleros brand mole sauce.
This alone was very tasty and had a creeping heat. If the filling is fine, how can the rest of a recipe fail?
This time, instead of duck fat or Crisco, I sprung for lard.
It made a very fluffy batter.
I used equal amounts of meat and batter this time, and made thinner tamales.
There were nine in all.
They steamed for 1 1/2 hours.
The verdict? The meat to masa ratio was right where I wanted it, I loved the texture and flavor of this version, everything was very moist and delicious.
There was only one thing wrong - three hours afterward I still had the flavor of lard in my mouth. I don't know if I'm just sensitive to it, or if it always coats your tongue afterward, or what.
I'll have to try this again before I make it for company.
