I live in Kenya and I'm trying to make Tamales by scratch. I have no Latin Grocery around the corner and so I have been nixtamalizing my own dried corn with pickling lime i brought back from the US. My tortillas seem ok but when i make my Tamales using one of Rick Bayless's recipe (lard combined with my masa, cilantro and jalepenos) they do not turn out like the nice images in his book. They are very tasty but those depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very white. Can anyone suggest maybe another recipe or think of what i can try differently. When the recipe says fresh masa I assume that they are referring to nixtamailxed corn that has been ground after soaking. this is what mine is. should i be nixtamalizing then drying , then grinding before mixing with the lard???
many thanks for ideas, jamie