Читать книгу Fresh and Wild Cookbook: A Real Food Adventure - Ysanne Spevack - Страница 27

Tamales (pronounced tam-aaah-lees) are the sandwiches of South America. They consist of a flavoursome filling that is encased in a starchy dough and then cooked inside a husk of corn. Traditionally, special maize flour called masa harina (literally ‘dough flour’) is used to make the masa (dough). However, for this recipe, I’ve used polenta, simply because you can’t get masa harina in the UK – especially not organic masa harina. May this sorry state of affairs change soon. Until it does, polenta is a really good substitute.

Polenta is a maize-based floury substance from Italy that’s usually used to make a thick, savoury porridge. But it also makes a tasty, light dough for tamales when you cook it with half the usual amount of liquid. You can try flavouring the dough with chilli or dried herbs, or try adding other non-authentic flavourings like dried mushrooms, pesto or anchovy paste. You could also use the dough to make Corn Pones – simply bake the dough in muffin trays.

I’ve called this recipe Tomorrow’s Tamales because they can be prepared the night before, ready to be steamed for lunch the next day. But once the tamales have been steamed, eat them up there and then because The-Day-After-Tomorrow’s Tamales will have lost their squidge and turned into dry rock cakes.

Fresh as daisies, these guys are succulent, filling and generally fabamundo.