Thank you so much for joining us for our first cooking class live from the LifeLink kitchen.  Here is the recipe for the Yoltamales.  If you would like to watch the video again please click here to go to our facebook page @lifelinkint.  Feel free to cut the recipe down if you are making less.  This recipe will make 18 yoltamales.

Filled Yoltamales
Ingredients:
25 tender ears of corn (need to still be in husk) equivalent to about 10 cups of corn

1 Panela*– Available in Latin food section of your grocery store or farmer’s market

1/2 pound of queso seco (grated) – Available in Latin food section of your grocery store
1 pound of sugar (to taste – US corn is sweeter so may need less)
2 tablespoons of salt

Instructions:

1. Remove the corn husks and set to the side for use later.
2. Cut the corn kernels off the cob and put into a bowl.
3. Remove as many silks from the corn as possible.
4. Next clean the grains of corn.
5. Wet your hands and have ready nearby some water. Put your hands through the collected corn kernels. The wetness of your hands will capture the corn silks. Do this as many times as needed to make sure there are no corn silks in the kernels. Corn silk turns the corn meal bitter, so you want to remove all of them.
6. Next, put the corn kernels through a food processor or grinder to grind the kernels.
7. When the meal has a fine consistency, it is ready.
8. Put the ground corn kernels in a bowl. Add sugar to taste (US corn is already sweeter so you may or may not need to sweeten) and the salt. Mix well. Add between ¾ to 1 ½ cups of water. You want a malleable consistency to the corn mixture, as seen in the video
9. To prepare the sweetness of the dessert, grate the Panela. You take the brick of sugar and slice it finely. Then chop even more finely those sliced pieces to make a crumbly mixture. Have this at hand as well  the grated queso seco, separated, to make your yoltamales.
10. Now you will begin to assemble the yoltamal:
    1. Put the corn husks one on top of the other, with one long end halfway covering the other husk (as you saw in the demonstration) and measure according to the size of yoltamal you are making (Usually about a cup of mixture). Add 2 tablespoons of the Panela and then 3 tablespoons of the queso seca in the middle, from one end to the other.
    2. Wrap the short ends around the mixture and then fold one long end over. Then add another corn husk to completely cover and double over the other side of the corn husk. Wrap the corn husks with “twine” made from the corn husks and tie them in the middle (or use string made for cooking)
11. To cook the yoltamales, put 8 pieces of corn in a pot and add about 8 ½ cups of water to cover the corn about halfway. Put the yotamales on top of the corn – they will cook in the steam, not directly in the water. Cover this with parchment paper and tuck ends down into the pot to assure you are going to make maximum steam. Then put a lid on your pot.
12. Let the cook at least an hour and a half until the leaves of the corn change color.
13. When ready to eat, open the yoltamal and eat the wonderful contents inside. You do not eat the leaves (J)*Substitution:

Panela is unrefined whole cane sugar – a solid form of sucrose, derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. If you cannot find it, you can use brown sugar as a substitute.