A pressure cooker is a fantastic steam-producing machine – the perfect tool to use to cook traditionally steamed foods, like tamales, in minutes not hours.Some hip recipes are spontaneous are written and photographed just minutes after the ingredients are spotted at the market and smuggled home while others, like these tamales, require a lot of planning, research and actual smuggling.

I don’t have easy access to corn husks or masa in Italy, so when I visited the U.S. last summer I came back with a 4.4 pound pack of Masa Harina stuffed in my suitcase (along with corn husks, chiles, quinoa and other hard-to-find ingredients from the Americas). Italian airport agricultural inspection, unlike in the US, is just a pistol-packing carabiniere with a cigarette stub precariously hanging off his lips waving a gloved hand to teams of passengers either to the right or left velvet ropes. If kids are within reach, the gloved hand reaches out and pats their heads goodbye – briefly stopping the heart of the American supermarket packing parent.

Pressure Cooking Time for Tamales

When looking for the right pressure cooking time for tamales, instead of just dividing the regular cooking time by three I looked back at the polenta recipe. Ground corn under pressure cooks for an absurdly short amount of time (8 instead of 45 minutes for polenta). After all, tamales are all about steaming the masa, activating the fat that’s been folded into it and re-heating the pre-cooked filling.

I recommend pressure cooking tamales 15-20 minutes at high pressure with a natural open- a big leap from the 1 1/2 to 2 hours they would ordinarily need without pressure. Don’t believe it? Try it! If the tamales are not cooked to your satisfaction, all you have to loose is a few more minutes of cooking time under pressure – but you won’t !

Make a Meal of It



Want to make this whole delicious Mexican meal? You need to get started two days ahead of the actual meal. The tamales don’t need to be cooked fresh, they can also be fabricated and cooked a day, or more, before and kept tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Then, re-heated by pressure cooking for 5 minutes at high pressure with natural open. Here’s how….

Two days ahead:

-Put the dry spice rub on the Carnitas (Pulled Pork).

One day ahead:

-Cook the Carnitas (or your favorite filling), shred, reduce and cool cooking liquid to de-fat.

– Rinse and put beans to soak, for Frijoles (Re-fired Beans).

– Make Chocoflan Dessert.

The day:

-De-fat Carnitas cooking liquid and use to spice-up Masa.

-Make the tamales.

-Pressure cook Frijoles and keep in a covered dish (they will stay warm for hours)!

-Pressure Cook tamales and keep warm in the oven on low heat covered with a damp cloth.

-Just before serving, make Arroz (Spanish Rice).

Serve!

Pressure Cooker Accessories Pr. Cook Time Pr. Level Open 5 L or larger steamer 15-20 min. High(2) Natural