Читать книгу Fresh and Wild Cookbook: A Real Food Adventure - Ysanne Spevack - Страница 28

FOR THE POUGH:

200g polenta

300g Joubere (or 300ml homemade) chicken stock

A big knob of butter

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Heat all the dough ingredients in a pan over a medium heat. Using an open whisk, beat the mixture well as it cooks. This action will keep the dough light and fluffy. When cooked through, take the dough off the heat and leave it to cool.

FOR THE FILLING:

You can fill tamales with just about anything, even sweet fillings. Try soaking dried mushrooms or tomatoes, then chopping them to make a stuffing. Saute some fresh spinach by steaming it in its own water. Simply wash the spinach, then put the wet leaves into a frying pan over a medium heat and it will steam within a few minutes. Use some fried shrimps or flaky fish like cod or lemon sole, or fry up some shredded chicken or pork. You could also use up some of last night’s dinner leftovers, or try some of the ready-made meze ingredients available in store, such as:

Roasted artichoke hearts

Roasted onions

Grilled aubergines

Pomorella – sun-dried tomato paste

Asparagus cream

Roasted red peppers

FOR THE WRAPPING:

Some outer leaves from fresh sweetcorn ears, or baking paper

If you’re using fresh sweetcorn leaves, they’ll be pliable enough to use as a wrapping. I’ve got into the habit of keeping all my sweetcorn leaves, so that when corn is not in season, I can still make tomorrow’s tamales. If you’re using dried leaves, soak them in warm water overnight, so they become fully flexible again. If you want, use baking paper instead, as it’s just as good in terms of keeping the tamales at the right moisture level. However, leaf-wrapped tamales look nice and appetizing, and this is how they’re always served in South and Central American countries.

Once you’ve chosen your flavouring du jour, take two-thirds of the dough out of the pan, divide it into six equal bits and shape these into 7–8cm X 2–3cm rectangles. Make a little channel along each one and fill it with the filling of your choice. Divide the remaining dough into six, shape into lids and use to cover the filled rectangles. Make sure the filling is totally hidden and that the lids are squashed together with the bottoms so that they’re watertight.

If you’re using corn ear leaves, take one and wrap it lengthwise around the tamale. Tie some string around each of the ends, so it looks like a strange green Christmas cracker. If there are gaps in the middle, take another leaf and wrap it around the middle, then tie that one with another piece of string. If you’re using baking paper, wrap them in that. Either way, make sure that the wrapping overlaps with itself to keep all the dough covered. Follow the same procedure with the remaining tamales.

Put the tamales into a steamer or colander over a saucepan of boiling water and steam them, over a medium heat, for about 20 minutes. Try serving these tamales with peperoncino on the side, a lovely Sicilian chilli pepper tapenade sold in Fresh & Wild’s condiments section.