Tamalada y Aguas Frescas with Working Class Foodies
Featured Post: September 30, 2010
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, Rebecca and Kit of Working Class Foodies joined us for a tamalada (tamale-making party). We enjoyed cooking up a few dozen traditional red chile pork tamales and my rendition of New Mexican inspired vegan tamales. I hope you enjoy this video as much as we enjoyed the day! xogabriela
P.S. Thank you to Working Class Foodies for their beautiful work and lovely company- make sure to check out their other great cooking videos!
Aguas Frescas
Horchata
Ingredients:
1/2 c. white rice
1/2 c. whole, raw almonds
1 Tbs. vanilla
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
zest of one lemon
Rinse rice in cool water until the liquid runs almost clear (I fill a bowl with water and swish rise around, changing the water about three times). Place rice and almonds in a bowl covered with water and soak for 4 to 8 hours. Dump water.
Add half rice and almonds at a time to a blender with 3 cups water and blend until thoroughly pulverized. Repeat with second half of rice and almonds plus 3 cups water and remaining ingredients. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth to remove all grit. Serve chilled, over ice.
*Horchata pairs nicely with rum
Melon-cucumber-mint Agua Fresca
Ingredients:
2 c. chopped honey dew, rind removed
1 cucumber peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 Tbs. fresh mint
1/2 c. sugar
juice of one lime
Place all ingredients plus 5 cups water into blender. Blend thoroughly. Strain in a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth to remove all pulp. Serve chilled, over ice.
* This drink would pair nicely with jalapeño infused vodka, at the recommendation of our friends at Working Class Foodies.
Horchata y Melon-cucumber-mint (photo by Working Class Foodies)
Gabriela's Kitchen 
This is a great recipe,I cant wait to try it out at home! Gracias!
Hi Gabriela,
I really really enjoy your fun, colorful and authentic Mexican food recipes! You should take great pride in your blog – thanks so much for sharing this with everyone. I also blog about Mexican food and recipes at http://www.mexfoodrecipes.com. I hope you’ll check it out! Have a great day! Maria
Thank you for your kind words! I am glad that you share the same passion for Mexican cooking as I do, I’ll be following your blog 🙂 thank you for sharing. xogabriela
Hi Gabriela,
You’re more than welcome! I really appreciate your posts that are so well-thought out and come from a real knowledge of Mexican fare. Feel free to leave me any comments on the blog. Also, would you be interested in having a guest post on “A Mexican Fiesta”? I’d be honored to have you collaborate. Best, Maria
Love your video on tamales, going to make dozens here and will take pics for you.
Thank you for sharing and teaching, they say as you teach you learn.
Good luck with your endevors you will succeed.
Via Con Dios
Thank you! I’d love to see photos of your tamales 🙂
Hola Grabriela !
I really fall in love with you watching you preparing tamales.
Gracias Fernando, we’re hoping to make more videos soon!
Love the video. Will be gearing up to make our holiday tamales soon. We buy some fresh nixtamal (freshly ground corn masa) for our tamales – makes them even more delicious. My dad makes his own nixtamal just a few days before Christmas.
If you ever come through Colorado, make sure to look me up. I’d love to meet you in person.
Hi Andrea, Your dad makes his own, wow! Does he grind it by hand? If I am ever in Colorado I’ll let you know, same goes for you and NYC! xogabriela
If only I had a greenback for each time I came to gabrielaskitchen.com.. Great writing!
Hi Gabriela, thank you so much for coming on our show! We really loved shooting and cooking with you and your family (and the pets!). Next time at our place, okay?
-REbecca
Gabriela, I saw you on Working Class Foodies. I love your tamale recipe. I made nearly 100 tamales last weekend and had family over. Everyone loved them! I thought I would have enough left over for work lunches for the week, yeah, there were only three left, LOL!
Sylvia
Sylvia, I’m so glad you had a tamalada! Making them is a great social event, right? I think I’m going to host one this again fall.
100 tamales, wow! Did you take any pictures? Thanks for writing, it’s always nice to hear about other peoples’ cooking adventures! xogabriela
hi gabby! i miss you and i’m so thrilled to see how you are using your artistic skills to make the culinary arts accessible and fun! i am definitely making this agua fresca tomorrow.
love, lily
Lily! Thanks, it makes me happy to hear that you enjoy my work and that your making some of the recipes! Looking back on it, much of my studio work invloved domesticity, if not food. Our true passions always force themselves through, right? Hope you are well and let me know if you’re ever in nyc, Alex and I would love to see you! xogaby
What a wonderful video.Your dogs are just adorable.I love the look on their faces when it got to the part when you were pulling the pork :)This really got me craving for some tamales
Hi Gabriela. Same thing pork. Tips?? You know what I do with my tamale leaves? Instead of soaking them the usual way, I put them all in a pot, cover with water and get the water to boiling and then simmer for a few minutes. I then take them, drain the hot water and put them in a drainer and rinse with lukewarm water to cool them.I take the “hair” out of them, rinse them a little and put in plastic bag till I’m ready to “embarrar.” If that is the right spelling. Tee Hee. Well take care, I just came back to listen to your video again.
I just discovered your blog through a friend posting a link to this on his facebook. And I am really, really excited to follow it! I JUST started cooking so it’ll be slow going for a while but I’m going to try these tamales sooner than later.
What a great video Gabriela. I just made tamales a couple of days ago. Great tutorial on making tamales. I’m hungry now. Take care.
Thanks Gloria! What did you put in your tamales? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share? xogabriela