Tamale Filling:
Medium sized pork butt
1 large onion, halved
1 clove garlic
4 dried California chile pods
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Tamale Dough:
2 cups masa harina
Reserved broth from meat
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lard
1 (8 ounce) package dried corn husks
1 cup sour cream

Place pork into a crock pot with onion and garlic plus any of your favorite seasonings, and add water to cover. Allow to cook on low until the meat is cooked through, about 4-6 hours or overnight. Once done allow to cool until you are able to shred meat without burning yourself. Do not discard juices that meat cooked it.

Use rubber gloves to remove stems and seeds from the chile pods. Place chiles in a saucepan with 2 cups of broth. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then remove from heat to cool. Transfer the chiles and broth to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture and stir in salt. Mix in one cup of the chile sauce to the shredded meat or enough to moisten meat. (if you do not have enough chile sauce to add to meat you may use the broth as well) Set aside.

Soak the corn husks in a bowl of warm water. In a large bowl, beat the lard with a tablespoon of the broth until fluffy. Combine the masa harina, baking powder and salt; stir into the lard mixture, adding more broth as necessary to form a spongy dough.

Spread the dough out over the corn husks to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness. Place one tablespoon of the meat filling into the center. Fold the sides of the husks in toward the center and place in a steamer. Steam for 1 hour or until tamale dough holds its shape.

Remove tamales from husks and drizzle remaining chile sauce over. Top with sour cream. For a creamy sauce, mix sour cream into the chile sauce.