Tamal’s Sweet Potato and Apple Tamales
MAKES ABOUT 10 TAMALES
Throughout Tamal’s life, people used to jokingly call him Hot Tamale, just to have a little fun with him. The irony is that Tamal makes really good hot tamales of all sorts, with ingredients you might not even expect. This sweet potato, apple, and cheese tamale will delight your palate. We love the flavor combination, but you can use just about any filling you like with this recipe: cheese and corn, sautéed tofu and cheese . . . the list goes on and on. We like to use Follow Your Heart vegan cheese and to pour our Cashew Cream Everything Sauce and our Oaxaca Mole Sauce over these tamales to give them a spicy, creamy boost.
10 tamale corn husks
1 large sweet potato
1 apple
⅓ cup vegan mozzarella cheese, cut into strips 2 inches long and ¼ inch wide
3 cups masa flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Himalayan pink salt
5 Tbsp. melted extra-virgin coconut oil
2 cups water
1 Place the corn husks in a large bowl of hot water. Let them soak for 30 minutes, until they become soft.
2 While the husks are soaking, peel the sweet potato and cut into slices 2 inches long and ½ inch wide. Cook the sweet potato slices in boiling water for 8–10 minutes, or until tender. Drain, add a pinch of salt, and set aside.
3 Peel and core the apple. Cut into slices identical to the sweet potato slices and set aside. Do the same with the vegan cheese.
4 Place masa flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and blitz for 10 seconds, until combined. Pour in the melted coconut oil and water and blitz again for 20–30 seconds, or until the mixture forms a dough.
1 On a clean cutting board, pat dry a single corn husk with a towel. Open the corn husk with the narrow end pointing toward you and the wider end pointing away from you. Spread a 2-inch ball of masa dough with a spoon along the inside of the corn husk, leaving 1–2 inches of the narrow end of the corn husk empty.
2 Lay 1 slice of sweet potato, 2 slices of apple, and 1 slice of cheese over the masa dough. Don’t overfill.
3 Fold the left and right sides of the corn husk inward so the masa dough connects and fully encases the sweet potato, apple, and cheese slices. Next, pinch and twist the narrow end, then fold the narrow end up toward the wide end. Place in a steamer basket. Repeat until all the dough and filling are used up.
4 Place the steamer basket with the tamales in a large pot filled with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil, cover the tamales with a lid, turn the burner down to a medium heat, and steam for 30 minutes.
