Maria's Ecuadorian Mini-Tamales

I've had a dozen requests for this recipe in the past couple days, so here you go:

My youngest 'Sprout' recently had a presentation on the country of Ecuador for her Geography class.Part of the project involved bringing in a food or regional dish from that country.

We were a bit stumped at first.. bananas were boring and coffee? Probably not appropriate for 5th-graders.Fortunately, however, both of Sprout's older sisters had visited Ecuador on Youth Mission trips with church or school. They both remembered having some unique regional dishes, none of which seemed exactly convenient, interesting, kid-friendly or suitable to transport to school and serve to a classroom of possibly finicky 11-year-olds...

Then we remembered tamales! Of course! A little bit unique, interesting, (relatively) easy to make and transport, and possessing that "fun" factor my daughter was hoping for.
Since my budget (and steamer) weren't quite ready to handle 30 full-size tamales, we decided to scale down the recipe to make thumb-size 'mini-tamales' so each student could have a bite-sized taste or two...

Now, I've had tamales many times, but never seen them made in miniature, probably because they're JUST as much work and labor intensive as full meal-sized ones, maybe more-so. Once we figured out the scale of how small to make and fill them, everyone pitched in and we had a steamer full of 50 tiny tamales in no time.

Yes, I DID say above that these were "easy" and I still feel they are. I don't always think 'quick' = 'easy', though. They are time-consuming, so may not exactly fall into everyone's definition of "easy".
Just so you know, tamales originated in early Mesoamerica. Aztec and Mayan civilizations as well as the Olmeca and Tolteca before them used tamales as a portable food, often to support their armies but also for hunters and travelers.

Known bollo in Guatemala, hallacas in Venezuela, pamonha in Brazil and santandereano in Columbia, they may have different fillings or wrappers, but are all pretty similar in the end:
Corn masa and meat, bean and/or cheese; wrapped, and then steamed.

Known as humitas in Ecuador, corn husks or canna leaves are used. Traditional fillings include boiled eggs, spices, chicken, carrots, bananas, green olives, raisins and nuts.

Since I don't have a ready source for canna leaves (they're a large lily that grows only in the tropics) we went with corn husks, much like the traditional Mexican tamale.

A couple notes: We used several "authentic"(?) recipes combined them and then made a few

vegan adjustments. Never too sure how "authentic" something is that I read off the Internet, but I think we stayed with the basic idea,
We minced our ingredients very fine, since we were making such small tamales. If I were making bigger/traditional sized ones, I would probably chop things a little coarser.

Most important, every child in the class loved them, and apparently rumors followed them home, as I've gotten calls from just a few parents asking for my recipe (which I didn't exactly have written down until now)....

Ecuadorian-Style Tamales

Masa Dough:
2 cups (or more) Tamale Masa (Looks like this, you can buy in most standard grocery stores, in the Mexican food section).
2 cups broth (I use vegetarian 'chicken' broth)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup coconut oil
3 Tbsp. margarine

Combine masa, baking powder, salt and seasonings in a bowl. Work the broth in with your fingers until it forms a soft dough. Add margarine and coconut oil and beat with mixer until dough is fluffy. Add more masa or broth if needed. The dough should be like very soft, fluffy mashed potatoes.


Tamale Filling:
2 cups whatever 'burger' product you prefer: crumbled tempeh, burger crumbles, reconstituted TVP or ground-up "chicken" type product (we used Gardein brand "chicken" cutlets because that's what I had, browned and chopped fine in food processor)
2 - 3 teaspoons oil as needed
1/2 onion, minced fine
1 red bell pepper,chopped fine
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
1/2 cup finely chopped pimento-stuffed green olives
1/2 cup finely chopped garbanzo beans
2 Tbsp peanut butter
3 Tbsp tomato sauce,salsa or New Mexican red chile sauce if you have access
2 teaspoons medium hot sauce or to taste (I used "Franks Hot Sauce", again, because it's what I had on hand)
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins soaked in hot water to plump,drained and chopped
1 cup shredded vegan cheese of your choice (you'll need it to melt - we used Teese from the lovely Chicago Soy Dairy folks - use whatever you like).
16 - 20 corn husks, soaked in water while you make the dough and filling.

Put "burger" of your choice in non-stick skillet. Add oil and warm a bit, you might need to add more oil (sorry!) depending on the product.
Add onion, bell pepper and garlic, saute on medium until onion is translucent and peppers are soft, making sure not to burn the garlic.
Add green olives, garbanzos, peanut butter, tomato sauce and hot sauce. Continue to stir together and heat over low, until peanut butter and hot sauce are incorporated.
Add allspice, raisins and salt to taste. Continue heating over med-low, stirring frequently until all ingredients are hot. Remove from heat. Add cheese and stir in until melted.
The filling should be sticky, not runny.

Now fill and roll your tamales.
At this point, you're on your own. I was taught how to roll tamales years ago by an elderly Hispanic woman who spoke little English - I'm still not sure if I'm doing it "right", but it seems to work. I think everyone should learn that way. To write out the method would take another two or three blog posts.

Instead, PLEASE go this TAMALE ROLLING TUTORIAL and watch the very helpful video.

MUCH easier than trying to read instructions!

Or simply Google "How To Roll Tamales" and you'll get all sorts of different (and equally authentic) ideas! We rolled our "mini" tamales much smaller, but you get the idea.

After the tamales are rolled, place standing up in a steamer basket and steam an hour to an hour-and-a-half, depending on size. (If you don't have a steamer, you can rig something up, again, Google is your friend)
After an hour, unwrap one and test; the filling should be firm and fall away from the cornhusk in one piece, if it's still sticky, continue to steam. Add water to the steamer as needed.

When finished, let them cool a bit and serve with your favorite sauce. You can also freeze them and reheat later, or serve cold in your lunchbox!

Tamales

*I had to delete and re-post this blog due to some Blogger issues, so if you're thinking you've read this somewhere before, well, you have...

So, anyway. This weekend we made tamales.

And ate tamales.

Now as you may know, tamales are a fair bit of work.

We made these Pineapple Tamales (from my New Mexico trip last year, the link includes lengthy instructions, not to fear, they're not that difficult, really) and also we made some basic ones filled with vegetarian burger and red chile sauce (VERY loosely following - and veganizing - a recipe we found on the web.) There are tons of great "how-to" tamale sites if you do a "Google" search, most have great pictures and step-by-step instructions, we just sub coconut oil for the lard - works perfectly!!

Honestly though, since my whole family LOVES tamales (rare event that everyone likes the same thing) I actually make these fairly often.

Once you get the get the assembly process down smoothly, it isn't as much work as it seems.

But this time I got the wise idea to enlist the help of my kids.

Hmmmm... Definitely was an adventure and they learned a lot about how much work goes into some of the foods they love.

Whether it was any quicker or easier for me... I don't know.

I had planned to save some of the tamales for dinner later this week but the tamale-inhaling creatures that inhabit my house had other plans and finished them off in record time.

Why am I not surprised.

Oh well, at least I got a few pictures. Pffffft. No big deal. We'll make more after Thanksgiving. .. Which is good, I guess tamales are traditionally a Christmas thing in many homes anyway.

And speaking of lard {shudder} which we leave OUT of our vegan tamales, I'll leave you with this last picture...

New Mexico, Pineapple Tamales and stuff

Can't believe it's already April! Just got back from a wonderful (and W-A-Y too short) week in New Mexico.

Let's see - we sorta played 'tourist' for part of the time - went to Carlsbad Caverns which was SOO cool, and visited the Alien Museum in the tacky-tourist town of Roswell (home of rumored alien landings) and of course spent time in Albuquerque.

Of course, we had several cooking adventures while there, one of my favorite was the tamales. I'd made them a couple times at home, but this time, we made a really good variation - PINEAPPLE tamales. Emril made some on Food Network a while back that intrigued me, but they had raisins in them. We left those out. We also subbed coconut oil for the lard. Obviously!

OK, so they turned out pretty yummy, though maybe a wee bit bland. I think I'd like to try them again, and maybe spice them up - put a little cilantro and jalapeno in just for the heck of it...who knows...

We froze the extra ones, there was no way we could eat all of what the recipe made - it says it makes 24. 24 by whose measurement, I'd like to know - I swear it made about 50!

Pineapple Tamales

1 8-ounce package dried cornhusks
1 medium-size fresh ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into rough cubes

8 ounces (1 cup) coconut oil, slightly softened but not at all runny
1 1/3 cups sugar
Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 pounds (about 4 cups) fresh coarse-ground corn masa for tamales

OR 3 1/2 cups dried masa harina for tamales mixed with 2 1/4 cups hot water

1. Cover the husks with very hot water, weight with a plate to keep them submerged, and let stand for a couple of hours until the husks are pliable.
For forming the tamales, separate out 24 of the largest and most pliable husks—ones that are at least 6 inches across on the wider end and 6 or 7 inches long. If you can’t find enough good ones, overlap some of the large ones to give wide, sturdy surfaces to spread the batter on. Pat the chosen husks dry with a towel.

2. Prepare the batter. In a food processor or blender, coarsely puree the pineapple. Measure out 2 cups puree. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the coconut oil with the sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and the baking powder until light and fluffy in texture, about 3 minutes. Continue beating as you add the masa (fresh or reconstituted) in three additions. Reduce the speed to medium-low, then add the 2 cups pineapple puree. Continue beating for another minute or so, until a 1/2-teaspoon dollop of the batter floats in a cup of cold water (if it floats you can be sure the tamales will be tender and light).
Beat in a little additional water if needed to give the mixture the consistency of soft (not runny) cake batter; it should hold its shape in a spoon.
For the lightest textured tamales, refrigerate the batter for an hour or so, then rebeat, adding enough additional water to bring the mixture to the soft consistency it had before.
3. Set up the steamer. Steaming 24 husk-wrapped tamales can be done in batches in a collapsible vegetable steamer set into a large, deep saucepan. (I use my rice cooker/steamer) To steam them all at once, you need something like the kettle-size tamal steamers used in Mexico or Asian stack steamers, or you can improvise by setting a wire rack on 4 coffee or custard cups in a large kettle.
It is best to line the rack or upper part of the steamer with leftover cornhusks to protect the tamales from direct contact with the steam and to add more flavor. Make sure to leave tiny spaces between the husks so condensing steam can drain off.
4. Form the tamales.

(OK, I admit - I borrowed this paragraph from a tamale-making website)

Cut twenty-four 8 or 10-inch pieces of string or thin strips of cornhusks. One at a time, form the tamales: Lay out one of your chosen cornhusks with the tapering end toward you. Spread about 1/4 cup of the batter into a 4-inch square, leaving at least a 1 1/2-inch border on the side toward you and a 3/4-inch border along the other sides (with large husks, the borders will be much bigger). Pick up the two long sides of the cornhusk and bring them together. If the uncovered borders of the two long sides you’re holding are narrow, tuck one side under the other; if wide, then roll both sides in the same direction around the tamal. (If the husk is small, you may feel more comfortable wrapping the tamal in a second husk.) Finally, fold up the empty 1 1/2-inch section of the husk (to form a tightly closed "bottom," leaving the top open), and secure it in place by loosely tying one of the strings or strips of husk around the tamal. As they’re made, stand the tamales on their folded bottoms in the prepared steamer. Don’t tie the tamales too tightly or pack them too closely in the steamer. They need room to expand.
5. When all the tamales are in the steamer, cover them with a layer of leftover cornhusks; if your husk-wrapped tamales don’t take up the entire steamer, fill in the open spaces with loosely wadded aluminum foil (to keep the tamales from falling down). Set the lid in place and steam over a constant medium heat for about 1 1/4 hours.

Watch carefully that all the water doesn’t boil away and, to keep the steam steady, pour boiling water into the pot when more is necessary.
Tamales are done when the husk peels away from the masa easily. Let tamales stand in the steamer off the heat for a few minutes to firm up. For the best textured tamales, let them cool completely, then re-steam about 15 minutes to heat through.