Tamales is a traditional Mesoamerican dish. It is made out of masa, which is a dough prepared specifically for tamales. To make masa, corn needs to be nixtamalized and then steamed in the corn husk or a banana leaf. The interesting thing about tamales is that you can either discard the wrapping, or use it as a plate since it is not edible, but you get to enjoy the right delicacy on the taste you might be seeking with perfectly done dough and all the other ingredients that you have made the filling with.
The tamales are a great thing to be having on most of the table settings and are enjoyed certainly by a wider range of audiences as well. However, at times you might not be getting the right texture on it as you could want, and the tamales can get soggy. If your tamales appear to be soggier than you would like then you will need to get them fixed up. A few ways that you need to know that will be helping you out with fixing the soggy tamales are:
How To Fix Soggy Tamales?
1. Wrap Them Again
The one thing that you will need to be careful about and is most important for the texture of the tamales is how well you wrap them and for how long. So, if your tamales appear to be soggier than they need to be, you will need to ensure that you are checking on the wrapping once again. To do that, you will need to wrap them up properly again in any wrapping that you might have been using.
Once you wrap them up properly, you can put them in the steamer again for a few minutes. As usual, 3-5 minutes should do the trick for you depending on how soggy your tamales are, and a good amount of steam coupled with proper wrapping should be enough to get the job done for you. Once it is all sorted out, you can take them out and enjoy them as you would like to.
2. Wrap Them in Damp Paper
Another thing that you can try out if you have already taken the wrapping off and discarded it is to use the damp paper while you steam these tamales. It should be easier for you to get it sorted out, and as opposed to what some might think about using the damp paper, the steam will be taking off the moisture from your tamales.
So, you will need to wrap soggy tamales in the damp paper and then let them sit in steam for a few more minutes. The steam should be taking off all the extra moisture that you wouldn’t like to have.
4. Aluminum Foil
If you are unable to get the steamer, or you don’t have access to any of the wrappings, the best thing for you to be doing in such cases is to use the aluminium foil. The aluminium foil is going to be helping you out properly with all the different needs you could be having to get the sogginess out of your tamales.
To get it done, you will need to wrap the aluminium foil properly around your tamales so that there is no air left in the aluminium cover that you will have on it. After that, you will also need to heat it in the oven for 20 minutes. To get it done properly, you will need to heat them on one side for 10 minutes and then on the other side for another 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 425 Degrees. That should be taking care of the sogginess for your good.
How Long to Steam?
The best part about the tamales is that you can steam them for long hours and you will not have to worry about a thing that way. So, unless you are not in a hurry, you can easily let them in the steamer or microwave for longer periods so they can be done properly and there is no sogginess left inside. The sogginess inside could be caused due to improper steaming, and once you give them long enough time to be steamed, that should be fixing the problem for you.