The Great Tamale Debacle

Tamales are a traditional dish made in Mexico and many other South and Central American countries. They consist of a starch-based dough, usually corn, with filling sometimes of meat, cheese or veggies, wrapped in a corn husk or another type of leaf, and then cooked (steamed, boiled, baked). This gives them infinite delicious variation.

But, if you have never made these babies before, just know....

They will be delicious but probably won't come out just as you had hoped.

I decided to make a sweet poblano tamale based on what our friend Daniella was telling us about tamales where she grew up, Bolivia. I bought my corn, but could only find corn in half husks, the first disaster.
But being the bull-headed cook that I am, I was not deterred. Shuck the corn and save your husks. Then take the kernels off the corn with a sharp knife. Once you have em all, boil them, until they are soft. I waited about 45 minutes and this was TOO LONG! My corn mixture got real soggy.

During this time you can roast your peppers if you want to use them. I chose poblano because it is sweeter than most hot peppers but still has a flavorful spiciness.

Roasting peppers:

-If you want to be fancy, make a fire and let the peppers sit near the coals, rotating them until they are happily scorched all around.

-If you want to be fast, start up your broiler and toss em in, rotating them until again they are scorched all around.

Then put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, and let them cool this way. It keeps in the moisture and helps the skin separate from the flesh.
After they are cool, you can peel the pepper easily, open it up and remove the seeds and veins. then slice em and put em on anything!




Now back to the corn, is it soft? Okay, either mash i or use a food processor or blender to beat it into submission. Then add whatever spices you like, I used:

2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp melted, unsalted butter (you can use shortening too.)

I absolutely recommend varying this, my mixture was much too wet, so I added cornmeal until it got a bit more reasonable, also adjusting the spices as I went.

So with these silly little half-husks, there was no way I could do something as cool as tying them up in little bundles and boiling them. So I made little tamale boats... And baked them. Once we got into the studio, I returned them to the oven with the peppers and some cheese for a hot little snack. You can't expect us to talk about food for two hours and not have snacks!

Also formed them into little cakes, fried them in butter and put fresh cheese and the poblanos on top. Yummy.

Sweet & Sour,
Zambria