Vegetable Tamales with Black Bean Sauce
Tamales de Verduras y Salsa de Frijol NegroChef, cookbook author, and friend John Sedler made vegetable tamales at a cooking class I once attended. This is my adaptation of John's tamales. I serve the tamales with black bean sauce, for a first course with striking presentation.
Ingrediënten
Makes 14 to 16 small tamales
- Basic Tamale Dough
- Black Bean Sauce
- 16 corn husks plus extra to line the steamer
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ medium onion finely chopped
- 4 medium button mushrooms finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot peeled and cut into 1⁄4-inch dice
- 1 medium zucchini ends trimmed and cut into 1⁄4-inch dice
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cooked corn kernels
- ½ cup crumbled cotija or mild feta cheese
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructies
- Prepare the tamale dough and keep it at room temperature.
- Prepare the black bean sauce and reserve in a saucepan.
- Soak the corn husks in hot tap water for 2 hours.
- Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat and cook the onion until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients, except the corn and cheese.
- Cook the vegetables briefly, about 2 minutes.
- They will be hot but still crisp.
- (They will finish cooking while the tamales steam.
- ) Transfer to a bowl and cool.
- Remove the corn husks from the water.
- Put on a plate and cover to keep moist.
- Lay 1 husk on a flat surface.
- Put about 3 tablespoons of dough in the center of the husk and spread into a 1⁄4-inch-thick rectangle to within 1 inch of the wide end and about 3 inches from the pointed end.
- Put about 1 tablespoon of filling down the middle of the dough.
- Overlap the sides of the husk to enclose the filling.
- Fold the pointed end toward the wide end and put on a plate, folded side down.
- Repeat with remaining husks and fillings.
- Put about 3 inches of water and a coin into a large steamer kettle.
- (A rattling coin means there's still water in the pot.
- ) Line the steamer rack with extra damp corn husks.
- Arrange the tamales folded ends down.
- Cover with more corn husks or aluminum foil.
- Tuck a kitchen towel on top and put on the lid.
- Bring to a boil and steam the tamales for 1 hour or until the dough is firm and easily pulls away from the husk.
- Reheat the sauce.
- For each serving, unwrap 2 tamales and place on a serving plate.
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons of sauce over the middle of the tamales.
- Scatter corn kernels and crumbled cheese over each serving.
- Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro.
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