Doña Lupe’s Kitchen

When I was growing up, I loved tamale season and my favorites were the meat filled ones. I hated, absolutely loathed the sweet ones. Everyone in my family, especially my grandfather, loved the sweet ones but something about them just gave me the icks. Maybe it was the peanuts, maybe it was the peanut butter in the masa, maybe it was the fact that the taste of corn fought with the raisins, I don’t know but I never liked them.

As an adult, I thought I’d give the sweet tamales another try. I still had the icks but was determined to find a sweet tamale that I liked. My grandmother had once made some incredible strawberry tamales that I liked and so, over the years I’ve been experimenting with berries and various fillings on my quest for the perfect sweet tamale. I’ve made strawberry ones that were great, coconut ones, piña colada, almond, blackberry and apple cinnamon and they were all good tamales but nothing I couldn’t live without.

Yesterday, I invented the perfect sweet tamale. Raspberry flavored masa with a fig-walnut filling and a touch of raspberry syrup. Oh. My. God.

Want the recipe? I’d better write it down so I don’t forget it since I made it up on the fly.

I had been shopping for ingredients for my tamalada and had bought the things for pineapple tamales as well as for coconut tamales. I was in this little store in Glendale and spotted large trays of fresh raspberries on sale and right along side of them, boxes of fresh mission figs for 49 cents. Yowza! I love figs and I love raspberries so I grabbed all the boxes of figs and five trays of raspberries. Marissa asked, “What do you need those for?” and I said, “No idea but this is a great deal” and tossed them into the cart.

Yesterday, when I was preparing for the tamalada I started pulling out the stuff to make pineapple tamales when I saw the raspberries. Something clicked and I got into this state my kids used to call the Mom-recipe inventing robot mode. It’s weird really, almost a dreamlike trance where everything is on autopilot and images just pop into my head and somehow become a recipe. This is what I came up with.

A stand mixer makes easy work of mixing the masa

Raspberry Tamales with Fig-Walnut Filling

3 lbs. raspberries, washed, hulled and patted dry
10 cups of prepared corn masa (can be ordered and bought ready made at Mexican bakeries or grocery stores)
4 lbs. fresh figs, washed
1 pound coarsely chopped walnuts
2 c. sugar for raspberries
1 tsp. allspice
3 tbsp. Chambord
2 cinnamon sticks
5 c. sugar for masa
2 more cups of sugar for syrup
Soaked corn husks

Wash raspberries and remove hulls. Gently pat them dry and put them into a heavy saucepan. Cover the raspberries just barely with cold water and add the two cinnamon sticks. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and let simmer for about a half hour. Remove cinnamon sticks and slowly stir in 2 cups of sugar. I used brown Mexican cane sugar, but any sugar will do.

Once the raspberries are cooked down and the sugar is dissolved, about another ten minutes, turn off the stove and let cool.

Scoop out the cooled raspberries with a slotted spoon and puree them in the blender, leaving the water in the pot.

Push the puree through a very fine sieve into a bowl. Set aside.

Put the corn masa into a big mixing bowl, or if you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, which is what I used (Marissa and Rachel got it for my birthday present), put as much of the masa as you can into the mixing bowl. Make sure to use the splash guard if you’re using the mixer. Turn on the mixer on medium speed and then start pouring the puree little by little into the bowl. Add the sugar and allspice and let it mix. I set the speed up to the maximum and let it do its thing for about 15 minutes. You want a light masa, so it’s going to take some work. If you’re beating this by hand, it’s going to take a while and you’ll need someone to spot you. Use the heavy-duty mixer.

While the masa is being mixed, turn the stove back on and heat up the remaining water from the raspberries. Add the two tablespoons of Chambord. Bring to a boil and start stirring in the remaining two cups of sugar. Lower the flame and let cook, stirring constantly until the consistency is thick and syrupy. It takes about five to ten minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain, using a fine sieve. If the small raspberry seeds bother you, double strain it through cheesecloth. I thought they added a little texture and dimension so didn’t bother. Set aside till you’re ready to assemble the tamales.

Once the masa is thoroughly mixed, removed from the mixing bowl into a bigger bowl or large container. I used a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Set aside.

Roughly chop the fresh figs and walnuts. Using a spatula, turn the figs and walnuts into the masa. If the masa seems a little watery and not spreadable, add more masa with your spatula till it’s the right texture. You want something almost the consistency of thick peanut butter. It’s now ready to be spread on the corn husks.

Soak corn husks for about an hour in warm water and pat dry. Run your fingers along both sides to check texture. The smoother side is where you should be spreading the masa. Using the back of a spoon spread the masa from the bottom up in a fan pattern. Get about a quarter inch of masa on the husk. Using another spoon, drizzle a line of the raspberry syrup right down the middle. Fold the bottom of the husk up and wrap the tamale. (See Rachel Braver’s step-by-step photo instructions on how to wrap a tamale).

Once you’ve assembled and wrapped all your tamales, place them in a tamale steamer standing up, bottoms sides down. Depending on how many you fit in the tamale steamer, it could take anywhere from an hour to three for the tamales to be done. Make sure the steamer never runs out of water and make sure the tamales aren’t sitting in water. They have to be above it and cook only with the steam. Tamales are done when the masa is set and firm.

I served these a little of the left over raspberry syrup on top and some homemade whipped cream. Garnish with a couple of fresh raspberries if you like. One of the comments I got was, “wow this is like a dense cake”. They are worth the effort and you can probably experiment to get this recipe smaller. I just tend to do things in huge batches.

One of the things I love most about the cold weather celebrations in Mexican households is the traditional ponche (hot fruit punch). There is nothing like it. The smell is incredible, it’s packed with stewed fruit and has an unbelievable flavor. You can add a dash of tequila for someone who wants an extra kick to hit, but I love it just as it is. It’s one of my favorite things and I look forward to it every year. I knew I just had to make some for my guests at the tamalada.

In ponche, there are some hard-to-find ingredients but they are absolutely necessary or it just won’t be the same. Fortunately, the ingredients are getting easier to find here in L.A. One of the main ingredients, tejocotes, used to be virtually impossible to get unless you went to Mexico and brought them over canned since you can’t bring fresh fruit across the border.

I found fresh ones!

The tejocote is what gives the ponche it’s unusually delicious flavor and without it, it’s just so-so. I’ve been lucky in the past few years being able to find them (at somewhat high prices) frozen. This year, I hit the tejocote lottery and found them fresh! I paid a high price per pound, but the ponche was amazing and it was worth it.

The fruit about to cook

I’m using my grandmother Lupe’s recipe, originally written in Spanish so the measurements may be a little off. I never measure and I never could translate grams and litres into cups and teaspoons.

Some of my guests came in cold from the weather and a hot cup of ponche was just the thing to warm hands and tummies.

Ponche (Mexican Hot Fruit Punch)

1 ½ pounds Tejocotes
1 ½ pounds Guayabas (guavas), not very ripe
1 pound of apples (I used Gala) sliced into rings so that the star in the middle shows
1 pound of Caña (sugar cane) – you can get it frozen in Mexican specialty stores if you can’t find it fresh. If fresh, chop into 2-inch sections and peel. If frozen you can add it right in, it’s already sectioned and peeled.
10 prunes
1 piece of piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cone)
1 handful of flor de Jamaica (hibiscus flowers, dried)
1 cup of pineapple chunks or rings (optional)
1 dried piece of tamarindo (tamarind), peeled (optional)
Tequila or rum (optional)

Wash all the fruit, peel the sugar cane and slice the apples.
Soak the hibiscus flowers in cold water for about five minutes and strain.
Put a big pot on the stove half filled with cold water and add the tejocotes and cinnamon sticks. Let come to a boil, then add all the fruit and piloncillo. Make sure that the water covers all the fruit. Cook on a medium heat, covered till all the fruit is soft.

Serve hot with some of the cooked fruit in the cup. Add a dash of tequila or rum if desired.

I’m having a tamalada tomorrow and, as I’ve invited about 30 people, have tons to do to get ready for it. A tamalada is a tamale-making party. Usually it’s with family and they all pitch in with both work and money to make dozens of tamales and each person gets to take some home. My roommate Rachel and I are throwing this one for friends as a kind of holiday present.

I had it in my head to do some of pork, beef, chicken, cheese and chile, strawberry or pineapple ones, maybe even some coconut ones. Some of the people coming have never been to a tamalada before, nor have they made tamales so I wanted it to be special. Most people here are used to beef, pork or chicken tamales but don’t know just how diverse tamales can be. Just yesterday my friend Frank was telling me about his brother-in-law’s incredible tamales de atun (fresh caught tuna tamales) with cilantro and tomato.

Early this morning my daughter-in-law Marissa and I drove into downtown Los Angeles to get flowers for decorations as well as ingredients for the tamales I plan to make. It was a cold morning and the grandkids were bundled up in their car seats excited to be having an almost dawn adventure with Mom and Grammy. We cranked up the heater and left Eagle Rock, taking the streets through Highland Park, then Lincoln Heights turned on Broadway to Alameda and headed into the downtown Warehouse District.

Our first stop was the Flower Market. We parked the car, pulled the stroller out of the trunk and started walking down the heavily perfumed street to the Los Angeles Flower Market. I wanted some fresh flowers for the house but wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted. All I knew was that you can’t beat the prices at the Flower Market. I left the choice to Jasmine who chose clover, dahlias, white roses, pink orchids and birds of paradise. She was feeling a little exotic, I guess. She also begged me to buy plastic bags of red and white rose petals for sprinkling. Needless to say I bought them.

After the Flower Market, we loaded up the car and then headed back down the street to Operetta, a small French café and bakery right across the street from the market for breakfast. Marissa and I had much need coffee, (me a latte and she a mocha), the kids had hot chocolate. We ordered a big breakfast and tucked in because we knew we had a long, hard day ahead of us.

We left Operetta warm and happy. One more trip into the Flower Market to pick up a wreath and then off we drove down Alameda to Central and the Warehouse District.

In the Warehouse District are all the grocery, produce, meat and seafood suppliers. You can get great deals for bulk items and, if you’re anything like me, you can bargain for better prices. The customer service is amazing and well worth the trip downtown. Where else can you buy 60 pounds of corn husks at bargain basement prices and have a nice man carry it for you the three blocks to your car? Where else can you shop and have nice people pack your trunk for you so that everything fits, then help you back out of a crowded and tight parking lot? The customer service is of the courtly old-fashioned Mexican variety and I revel in it.

My daughter-in-law Marissa is a trooper. She had never been down to the Warehouse District, which can be a little off-putting as you drive through some of the seedier parts of downtown. Parking is always a challenge and she was completely unflappable. You’d have thought she had been doing this all her life.

My granddaughter Jasmine was completely amazed by the great quantities of things but she stuck to me like glue and was absorbing everything with great interest, especially the haggling part. I am my father’s daughter – he loved to haggle and so do I, even when I know the prices are set. I still try. Marissa says I’m incorrigible but she laughs when she says it and I know she means she’s impressed. I haggled over tomatoes, chiles both dried and fresh. I got a deal on tamale cans and had a great time buying and negotiating price.

About an hour and a half later, we left the Warehouse District with a packed car and really tired kids. We drove home and unpacked the car, then set off again for more errands.

From Eagle Rock to Glendale, Glendale to Highland Park, Highland Park to Lincoln Heights and back again we collected tejocotes, guayabas (guavas), cana (sugar cane), raspberries, fresh figs, pork, onions, garlic, bay leaves, pineapple, coconut milk, ajonjolli (sesame seeds), nutmeg and various other odds and ends. At the end of the day, we had everything we needed and were ready to start in on the preparations for the tamalada.

My house looked something like a warehouse itself…

Bags of pork and dried chiles Californias

Tomatoes, pineapple and lots of garlic

Chiles Pasillas

Can’t make tamales without garlic

Too many tomatoes? No such thing.

This is one tired, but very sweet daughter-in-law.

Isn’t she beautiful?

Every holiday my grandmother made her famous pan (bread). I never knew where she got her recipe, I only know that I am the only one left in my family who can make it just the way she did. Everyone has the recipe, there’s just something about it that requires special handling. If you don’t knead it just enough, it can be a little too dense, it can taste a little flat or just not quite right. It’s still good bread, still looks great, but that special something is missing. I think what it is that makes it turn out just right is my grandmother’s rule knead it till the dough whistles. Yep, it whistles. It takes a long time and bread machines don’t get it. The flavor goes off. You have to completely work that dough - no cheating and no slacking. Knead it till it whistles.

Grandma Lupe’s Pan

4 packages active dry yeast (don’t get rapid rise - another thing that makes the flavor go off)

4 eggs (room temperature)

4 cups hot water (not too hot - it’ll kill the yeast)

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter (softened)

dash salt

flour (my grandmother liked to use 13 loose cups sifted, I use a bit at a time till it feels right and I never sift)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour four cups of hot water into a large mixing bowl then sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the water. I always add a tablespoon or two of sugar to test the yeast. Dissolve the yeast by mixing it with a wire whisk, add the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. If it starts to form big bubbles on top, foamy like beer, then the yeast is good and you can move on to the next step.

Take the softened butter and mix it into the water and yeast mixture. Never, ever use margarine but find the best creamy unsalted, butter you can. I buy this amazing Normandy butter from The Cheese Store in Silverlake. It’s expensive, but sooo worth it. You can’t beat the taste or the succulent flakiness that it gives the dough.

Add the cup of sugar, the eggs and the dash of salt and whisk it all together. Let it sit for about five minutes.

Now for the flour. I take about a cup at a time and start whisking it in. When it becomes to thick and goopy for the whisk, I switch to a spatula and then my hands. I put in enough flour to produce a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Let that dough rest for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a lightly floured board.

Knead the dough until it whistles, sprinkling small amounts of flour to the dough and the board each time it becomes too sticky to work. It usually takes me about an hour to knead the dough till it gets the air bubbles in it that makes it whistle. Like I said, it’s a lot of work but little hands love to help and I find that it’s a great and fun time with my grandchildren.

Turn out the dough into a buttered mixing bowl and cover it with a cloth.

Let rise for about two hours. It should double in size. Once it has, punch it down and re-cover it and let it sit for another hour.

Now the dough is ready to form or roll into shapes. We always make braids, monkey bread, crescents, rosettes and just plain rolls.

Once the dough is formed, place them onto greased baking sheets and let rise again for about 15-20 minutes. Just before popping a tray into the oven, brush your bread with an egg wash. I use egg yolks with a touch of cream. You can also add sesame seeds if you like.

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Bake each tray at 350 degrees until the bread is golden brown. Baking time depends on the size and density of your roll. Small crescents will take about 10-15 minutes, a large braid may take 40 minutes. It depends.

This bread is light and airy, touched with sweetness and tastes marvelous dripping with butter or dipped into coffee or hot chocolate. It’s great toasted the next day and makes an incredible turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving. I make big rounds of it for just that purpose.

This recipe makes A LOT of bread but I promise, it won’t go to waste.