The assembly line

Liz Burgess, left, and Susan Coughlin help to fold over 2,000 chicken tamales along with other teachers, parents and some students on Wednesday afternoon for a fundraising effort at Heritage Primary Elementary School. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

The assembly line

Heritage Primary's fund-raiser cranks out 2,000 tamales

By Jennifer Bonnett
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, December 4, 2008 6:38 AM PST

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At this time every year, a group of dedicated parents and teachers gather in the Heritage Primary Elementary School cafeteria to prepare 2,000 pre-sold tamales.

The parent-teacher club's fund-raiser pays for things such as new shoes and race registration for the school's running club or uniforms for families who can't afford them, according to principal Maria Cervantes.

After 10 years, the dozens of volunteers have the process down to a science, creating an assembly line that gets the bulk of the job done in just a few hours.

Cervantes spent Tuesday helping prepare the green chili sauce in two 18-inch-tall stock pots.

After boiling the chilis and pureeing them with garlic in a blender, oil was added to the mixture and seasoned accordingly. After cooling overnight Tuesday, it was combined with the meat on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, boxes of store-bought masa — ground corn dough — were whipped in a giant mixer until fluffy before being placed on the table as the first assembly line step in Wednesday's undertaking. Parent Amelia Swords said it would take days to make masa from scratch. That process would begin by soaking corn kernels, then grinding them and adding baking soda and salt. Once a dough formed, it would be kneaded.

Second-grade teacher Carol Royal spent an hour Wednesday afternoon using an ice cream scoop to create uniform masa balls, joking she would only need to exercise one arm later that night.

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Then half a dozen volunteers used steel tortilla presses to create round tortillas atop corn husks soaked overnight until soft.

Next, trays of prepped shells moved on to the fillers and the wrappers.

Kindergarten teacher Liz Burgess, one of the so-called fillers, said there is really a science to the task because you want uniform sizes. In the past, Cervantes said one person would be responsible for scooping the meat and folding the tortillas, but the portions would be inconsistent.

Burgess passed the flat product to third-grade teacher Susan Houghlin, who learned to tuck each side and bottom over the filling from Cervantes herself.

Meanwhile, Dwight Ota, reading recovery teacher, brought along his daughter, Kasey, a Tokay High student earning community service credit for her volunteerism.

He was counting each nearly finished product and found Wednesday he could get 15 rows of eight tamales onto a tray before they were whisked away, covered with cellophane and stored in the walk-in refrigerator by parent Maria Perazas until they could be cooked.

Steaming in the 18-inch stock pots started Wednesday evening and will be completed today so the orders are still warm when they are picked up this afternoon.

Crispy vegetable pakoras

Heritage Primary paraeducator Ayesha Zafar said selling a Pakistani appetizer called pakoras alongside the campus tamale fundraiser was such a hit last year, the mothers decided to participate again.

Pahira Sareem, left, cuts cilantro while preparing pakora, an Indian-Pakistani appetizer, along with paraeducator Ayesha Zafar at Heritage Primary Elementary School on Wednesday. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

After four or five of them spent about an hour cutting vegetables Wednesday afternoon, Zafar was joined by a parent in frying each fritter in hot oil.

Here is a variation of the dish:

Ingredients:
1 cup chasa bais (ground chickpea) flour
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 cup water
1 quart oil for deep frying
1/2 head cauliflower florets
2 onions, sliced into rings

Directions:
1. Sift the chickpea flour into a medium bowl. Mix in the coriander, salt, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala and garlic.
2. Make a well in the center of the flour. Gradually pour the water into the well and mix to form a thick, smooth batter.
3. Over medium-high heat in a large, heavy saucepan, heat the oil to 375 degrees F.
4. Coat the cauliflower and onions in the batter and fry them in small batches until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Serves 6

Source: www.allrecipes.com

Contact reporter Jennifer Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.

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