Mexican chicken tamales with salsa verde recipe

Put the spring onion, celery, carrots, a couple of bay leaves, a few grains of black pepper, ground cumin and the two cleaned chicken breasts in a saucepan. Cover with water, and add a little salt.

Cover and let it cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes after it starts to boil. Then, strain and reserve the broth. Remove the breasts and shred the meat.

For the green sauce, wash the tomatillos well and put them in a saucepan along with the spring onion, garlic and a jalapeño bell pepper. Cover with water and cook for about 15 minutes over medium heat.

Then, put the ingredients in a blender together with a handful of fresh coriander and ground cumin.

Add a drizzle of oil from a saucepan. Taste and correct the salt, stir and cover. Let the sauce fry for 15 minutes over medium-high heat.

Mix the chicken well with the sauce and set aside until it is time to assemble the tamales.

Wash the corn husks well in plenty of cold water. Once cleaned, put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave them like this until the moment to use them.

In a bowl, add the lard, salt and baking powder. Beat with an electric whisk for 5 minutes and add half of the tamale flour. Add 250 ml of the broth from cooking the chicken.

Start mixing with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the flour and mix. Put your hands in to check the texture of the dough. Add 250 ml more of the chicken broth and mix until you obtain a malleable dough, moist but easily compactable.

Prepare a steamer. Then, take a corn husk, pour a spoonful of the batter and spread it on the bottom of the corn husk. Pour chicken with green sauce into the centre of the dough and close it. Fold the husk and place it standing upright in the pot with the open side up. Continue making our tamales until all the dough and meat are done.

Cover with the leftover leaves and a clean cloth. Cover and cook for 1 hour over high heat, making sure the pot does not run out of water.

Wait 30 minutes before eating. Enjoy!