Ingredients

Chicken

1 whole chicken 

4 garlic cloves

4 Bay leaves

5 Peppercorns

3 onions quartered 

Salt 

Dried chilli (optional)

Dip

4 jalapeño chiles

680 grams of tomatillos, without shell

3 garlic cloves

1 onion, quartered 

Chicken stock cube 

1 tsp cumin 

300 ml of the homemade chicken stock

Salt for seasoning to taste

Handful coriander 

Mass

36 medium corn husks, plus 10 extra for the steamer

5 cups (600 grams) cornmeal

1 teaspoon of baking powder

360 grams lard

1 litre warm chicken broth, plus more if needed

Salt to taste

Method

To prepare the chicken:

1. In a large pot we place the chicken, onion and garlic. We cover all these ingredients with water and let them cook over medium heat for approximately 40 minutes, until the chicken is tender, then we let it cool to shred it with 2 forks.

To make the sauce:

1. In a large pot we place the chiles, garlic and tomatillos with water that covers all the ingredients, cover and cook over medium heat until they can be seen cooked and tender, no more than 15 to 18 minutes.

2. Now we take the tomatillos, the chiles and the garlic to a blender and blend until we have a smooth sauce, we begin to season with the salt and mix with the shredded chicken. We put aside

To make the dough:

1. In a large container we add all the corn husks with regular warm water and let them soak for about 30 minutes, this will help us so that the husks can soften and when preparing the tamales they fold easily.

2. Now we remove the corn husks and drain the excess water and set aside.

To assemble the tamales:

1. On a work surface we place the corn husk with the wide part in front of you, then we place 2 to 3 tablespoons (15 to 30 grams) of the dough in the center, near the edge of the husk (the wide end). And with the back of a large spoon we distribute the dough towards the left, right and bottom edges.

2. Remember that the dough should go all the way to the bottom edge, but you should leave 1 inch on the left and right sides. Now we place 2 tablespoons of chicken filling on the dough.

3. It's time to fold the left and right sides of the corn husk in toward the center, completely covering the filling and dough. Then we fold the narrow end of the corn husk towards the center.

4. We must repeat the previous steps with the 35 sheets, dough and remaining filling, arrange the already formed tamales on a tray.

To steam the tamales:

1. Inside a pot we place a steamer rack and add enough warm water that it almost reaches the steamer rack, now we cover the rack with a layer of corn husks.

2. The tamales are placed in the pot upright, open ends up, covered with a fairly generous layer of leaves, and cover the pot.

3. Let the steamed tamales cook for approximately 1 hour over medium heat. We should always check the pot to see if it has enough water, adding more if necessary.

4. To know if the tamales are ready, just remove one from the pot and let it cool for 5 minutes, open it and see if the sheet separates quickly from the dough, it means that the tamale is cooked, if the dough sticks to the pot, return the tamale to the pot and cook for another 15 minutes.

5. And that would be it, you would have your Mexican chicken tamales in green sauce ready.