In deep winter, a taste of rich, piquant Mexican food gives you an appetite for more. And so, following our visit to Nuevo, I decided to steam up a good batch of tamales.
They taste better the next day, I think, even though the texture is best on day one.
The tamale is a humble food, and not particularly photogenic. It’s not about looking good on a plate. It’s about flavor and texture.
If you search for tamale dough recipes online, you will hear hymns of praise for the “piggy” flavor imparted by lard. No thanks. Make mine vegetarian! I use Spectrum non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. It works just fine in Rick Bayless’ Basic Tamal Dough. The dough is made from masa, fat, broth or hot water, and a bit of baking powder. I always expect it to be heavy like bread dough, but it’s amazingly light and fluffy. Getting your hands into this is good fun.
I keep my masa in the freezer.
Corn husks are the traditional wrapper, and impart extra flavor to the tamale, but it is much easier to use parchment paper. I also use twist ties to close the ends. No doubt they are loaded with awful chemicals, and I should tie the wee bundles with string instead. But I didn’t have any string. Have you ever bought yourself a present, and gift-wrapped it just to have the fun of opening it? That’s the joy of making tamales.
Little packages of goodness. I trim the edges of the paper off before putting them in the steamer.
Choosing the fillings is the best part, because you can use just about anything. I think an Italian “polenta tamale” with a tomato filling would be interesting. I had on hand some frijoles borrachos, so they became filling number one. Number two was a can of refried black beans mixed with diced green chilis. Number three was sharp cheddar cheese with green olives. (I had olive tamales once at a place in Ann Arbor MI, and loved them. I think it was Pilar’s.)
Drunken beans. These are Irish borrachos, made with Guinness!
Rolling the tamales is a bit laborious. I was pressed for time, so I worked fast. I put the whole batch together in an hour and fifteen minutes. Once they’re ready, you steam them for an hour. I use a big stockpot with an open steamer basket at the bottom. I always lose track of which fillings are in which tamales, so when I serve them, it’s the luck of the draw!
Spread the dough to about four by five inches. I use a third of a cup of dough for each tamale.
Last but not least, the sauces. I think salsa verde is indispensable, but I also like tomato salsa. These are a lot of work, but well worth the trouble. Each bite is like a little gift to yourself.
Unlovely but delicious!
Dressed up tamales, from the second batch, which I froze and served a week later.
Linnet Moss 
Easy to look past their appearance and imagine how delicious they would be. I have always wanted to make these but haven’t yet got there LM. They are on my ‘to do list’. The Yak would think he had died and gone to heaven.
Yes, they are GF too! I find them to be worth the effort, especially if you make enough to freeze an extra meal or two.
oh yummy, i need to find a good Mexican in London where they do them fresh 🙂
I don’t recall seeing a lot of Mexican places in London! But the city is a vegetarian paradise. We ate well there.
yes, luckily as more than half of my friends are vegetarian and i love my veg too and we want more than pasta! 🙂 but i used to share flat with Mexicans and miss really good authentic Mexican food,. sniiff, have to do some proper research as i’d kill for a proper mole! 🙂
Mole is too complicated for me to make at home. I tried it once and the result was icky!
GRATE STUPH! (2 B greatly-stuffed by). tamales are a combination of mystery, ritual, yes: religion, oh — and ingredients! out here.
i especially liked the guiness-drunken frijoles !
Well, they actually tasted a little bitter from all that hoppy beer being cooked down. But in the tamales, they worked great!
Love Mexican food:-) great share
Many thanks!
Sounds so very good. I don’t have the patience to make them myself, but I love good tamales, especially when they are more moist than dry. Salsa Verde as a topping for most anything in Mexican food is my personal favorite, but what’s that delicious looking creamy sauce in the last picture? That looks even better!
Ah, that’s tomato salsa mixed with Greek yogurt (or sour cream if I have it on hand). And yes, it’s gooooood 🙂
Sound easy and perfect. I will remember that. (I too like to use Greek yoghurt over Sour Cream often.)
Thank goodness for “Greek” style yogurt. That’s the only kind I will eat now, but it is not as thick as what I had in Athens. The yogurt there was like cream cheese!
BTW thanks for all the likes!