Green Chile, Chicken and Cheese Tamales

• Place chicken, onion, chicken bouillon, salt, and bay leaves in the crockpot.
• Fill with 2 cups water and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. (This can also be cooked on the stovetop in a large pot for 45 minutes.) 
• Once cooked, remove & shred chicken and set aside.
• Reserve chicken broth for later.
• Put 12 green chiles in a blender, along with 3 garlic cloves, cumin, salt, and water.
• Blend just long enough until you have a smooth sauce.
• Heat skillet over the stove with approx. 1 Tbsp. oil in it.
• Pour chile sauce into the skillet and cook approx. 5 minutes, (Mix in a can of cream of mushroom if desired).
• Add shredded chicken to chile sauce, lower heat, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
• Take off the stove and set it aside. (Refrigerate if necessary.)
• Soak corn husks in hot water for approx. 2 hours, so they become clean and more pliable.
• Prepare masa by first creaming 2 cups of lard in a stand mixer.
• This will take approx. 10-15 minutes with mixer set to medium-high. 
• In a separate large bowl, mix together Maseca corn flour, baking powder, and salt.
• When lard appears fluffy, you can begin to add cornflour mixture to the lard a little at a time and continue to mix.
• Begin adding chicken broth a little at a time as well.
• Your masa will need between 4 - 5 cups of chicken broth to get the right consistency.
• Continue to mix another 15 minutes. To test masa, take a tiny piece of it and drop it in a glass of water.
• It should float back to the top.
• If not, try adding a little more chicken broth and continue to mix.
• To begin making tamales, place water in the bottom of a large steam pot.
• Spread masa on the soft side of corn husk from halfway point down to the end.
• Place approx. 2 Tbsp. chicken chile mixture on top, add a slice of cheese and fold husk over, first on sides, then fold over the bottom.
• Place in steam pot and continue to make other tamales until all masa is used up.
• Cover pot and place on stove over medium heat. 
• Once it begins to steam, set the timer to 2 hours. 
• Monitor to make sure water in the steam pot does not dry out.
• If you need to add water, pour carefully along the sides of the pot, and avoid getting water inside tamales.

VEGETARIAN SUBSTITUTES:

• If you are vegetarian, you can follow all the same instructions, just make the following substitutions
• Instead of lard, substitute vegetable shortening or vegetable oil in the same amounts
• Instead of chicken broth, substitute vegetable broth
• Instead of chicken, substitute 2 cans of corn kernels (the corn, green chile & cheese are a delicious combination!)