Vegetarian Tamales

MC Baker's Note:

These tamales are a great base recipe that can actually be used with a meat filling instead, but this jalapeno, cheese and tomato filling is really amazing.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 2 cups masa corn flour
• ½ cup butter , cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch sugar
• ½ cup broth
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 ½ cups corn (fresh or thawed frozen will work)
• 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese (mexican cheese is better, reserve about half for filling)
• 4 ounces roasted chilies (fresh roasted skinless peppers work too)
• 2 tomatoes , deseeded, pealed and sliced (can immerse in boiling water for 20 seconds, and then ice water to loosen skins)
• parchment paper or corn husk

Directions:

1. In a food processor blend corn and cheese until corn is in nearly a meal consistency.
2. Add butter, Masa flour, salt, sugar, pepper and baking powder and process until the mixture is loosely mixed.
3. Add broth and mix until just smooth.
4. Place about 2 tbsp of mixture into soaked corn husk or parchment paper.
5. Fill with some cheese, slices of roasted chili pepper and tomatoes.
6. Close parchment paper or corn husk around filling, trying to cover filling with Masa flour mixture. If you have trouble closing or have too much filling try using less in your subsequent tamales.
7. Roll wrapper closed, roll and fold over ends and set aside.
8. Once they're done they can be refrigerated or frozen, or placed immediately in steaming tray above boiling water for about 30 minutes, or until Masa flour mixture is set.

Reviews

[confectionist]

Amazing! I make these in batches of 3 so I can freeze them and whip them out when I don't feel like cooking. They are so delicious that I won't even eat tamales in restaraunts anymore! I do my own filling of Black olives, green chiles, black beans, cheddar, cilantro and corn...mmmmm!

[redping]

Wow, this turned out excellent! They are just like the kind I buy from local Mexican men and women who sell them locally (San Diego). I was amazed at how easy this recipe was. I have two notes to add. First is before you do anything soak the husks for at least 10 minutes before you start your prep. The second thing is that I had a hard time mixing everything in the food processor. When I broke it into two batches it was MUCH easier. The taste was superb! I plan on making a bunch more this weekend and freezint them. Thank you for a great recipe!

[Muffin Goddess]

Loved these! I filled these with strips of jarred roasted red jalapenos, the chopped tomatoes and a mixture of goat cheese and queso fresco crumbles (I used shredded Mexican Blend cheese for the masa, though). They ended up being pretty spicy (the pepper strips were quite a bit "kickier" than I was expecting), but not unbearably so. Using a large cookie scoop (Pampered Chef) to portion out the masa, I ended up with 20 tamales. To appease DH, Mr. "But Where's the Meat?", I made some shredded poached chicken to place on top of the finished tamales. I also served them topped with some fresh tomatillo salsa and crema (which helped to cut the heat of the tamale filling). Oh, and I added a bit of garlic powder to the masa mixture, just because I felt like it. I really liked that this was a small manageable batch (plenty for DH and myself), because usually my tamale endeavors are these two-day-long, chained to the kitchen table, tamales coming out of my ears events. This was nice and quick, as far as tamales go. I'll definitely be making these again. Thanks for posting! Made for ZWT4 Zingo