Tamales - Steamed corn cakes

If you are looking for a great alternative to potatoes, tamales are really great. They are firm corn dough made from corn flour. They can be stuff with anything you chose. I stuffed mine with sundried tomatoes. Great side dish.

Ingredients for 10 tamales.

Ideally, allow 2 or 3 per person

·         250g coarse corn flour

·         10 sundried tomato pieces

·         12 fresh coriander leaves to decorate

·         Dry oregano

·         Salt

·         3 tablespoons Flavour oil (from sundried tomato jar)

·         250ml boiling water

·         2 table spoons self-rising flour

·         1 fresh corn (just for the leaves)

Method:

Start by rinsing the coriander leaves and set aside. Carefully remove one by one the outer leaves of corn cob. Remove any extra “corn hair” rinse the leaves and flick out the water. The number of leave on the corn cob can vary from 8-12…

Slice the pieces of sundried tomato in 2 - 3 to make the thinner. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, pour the corn flour, the self-rising flour, a pinch of salt and oregano. Mix all the dry elements together then, add the boiling water, flavoured oil and knead the dough using a spatula until you obtain the consistency of a cookie dough.

Now lay flat all the corn leaves on a flat surface. On each leave, place 1 coriander leave, then top with the equivalent of 2 tablespoons of corn dough. Flatten the dough on the corn leave and place on it 2-3 pieces of sundried tomato. Now bring together all the edges of the corn leave as if make a rolled cigarette. Fold the edge together and finish folding by over flapping both ends of the corn leaves.

You can either hold the parcels together with a tooth pick or simply put the parcel aside face down.

Repeat until all the parcel are done.

If you’ve got a steamer, use it to cook the tamales. If not, Place all the tamale parcel in an oven proof dish and place the dish in a big enough pan with a lid. Without a steamer, it is best to cook the tamales in a Bain Marie.

The idea here is that you will pour some water in the pan, making sure that none of it enters the heat proof dish. The water in the pan should be at about half the height of the dish within the pan. As water boils, it will produce enough heat to cook the tamales. For the size of the tamales made in the recipe, you should allow 20 minutes for them to be cooked through.

To check that the tamales are ready, they should be harder and if pricked with the tip of the knife, just like the test for a cake, the knife should come out dry. The secret is to keep the steam to the max in the pan. Make sure to top up the water as it dries out.

Tamales are great replacement for rice or potatoes. Feel free to dip fry the left overs to give them a crispier outer layer…

They are to be eaten without the corn leaves obviously.

Note: Using corn leaves add to the taste of the Tamales. In the absence of corn leaves, use banana leaves (found in the local ethnic or Chinese supermarkets) or simply kitchen foil.

Enjoy!

Griddled tofu and Samphire stir fry

Quick Lunch for 2

 

The ingredients

Ingredients:

·         200g pressed tofu

·         ½ yellow, red, & green sweet peppers

·         1 small onion

·         half a red  scotch bonnet (chilli)

·         2 garlic cloves

·         4 sundried tomatoes slices in oil

·         Salt & black pepper

·         90g samphire

·         100g aubergine

·         4 tablespoons of oil from the sundried tomato jar

·         1 Maggi cube crushed

The marinade

Prep:

The marinade for the tofu: 3 tablespoons of flavoured oil, 1 tablespoon water, pressed garlic, very finely cut sundried tomatoes (slightly mashed), very finely cut scotch bonnet. Mix well, add the crushed stock cube, salt & black pepper. Set aside.

Cut the tofu in 2 to reduce the thickness, then cut again from corner to corner. You should obtain 8 pieces. Dip the pieces in the marinade and set aside for about 10 minutes.

Cut the aubergine in the same size (1cm thick) as the tofu, quarter the half peppers and onion, lie them on a plate and throw on it the rest of marinade. Leave to the side.

Now remove the samphire from the package and rinse.

Method:

You will need a griddle pan and a frying pan.

Heat the griddle pan and line up the slices of tofu and aubergine on it. Fry each side until brown and cooked through for 1 minute and half. The aubergine might need 30s more on each side than the tofu.

All lined up in the griddle pan

In a very hot frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the flavoured oil. Throw in the multi-coloured peppers, and onions with salt and pepper. Stir fry for 3 minutes. By this time the contents of the pan should be slightly soft and brown, but crunchy. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Now add the samphire and continuously stir from side to side and top to bottom to bring the heat to the surface.

The samphire softens very quickly. So, 1 minute or one minute and half should suffice while the peppers and onions should remain crunchy.

the rest in the frying pan



 Plate up and serve as suggested.

This is a very light lunch with a little kick to it. With the peppers still crunchy, their sweetness still comes through. Nothing else is needed but, if you must, potato wedges will do.

Bon appetit!

 

Tuck in! Griddled tofu and Samphire stir fry