With the holidays coming, these finger-sized appetizers are just the ticket for parties or gift-giving. And tamales freeze well, so you can make them in advance and store for use later. When the festivities begin, if it gets too hectic, they’ll be ready to go!
Ingredients:
- 2/3 Cup quick grits (not instant)
- ¾ cup masa harina (such as Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1-16 ounce can corn or 2 large ears fresh corn – cut corn cut off cob
- 1 ¼ Cups water (or water combined with liquid from can of corn) to equal 1 ¼ cups
- 6 Tablespoons Garlic Gold® Oil
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Gold® Nuggets with Sea Salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1-8 ounce package corn husks
Procedure:
At least 6 hours prior, soak corn husks in a large soup kettle, using a bowl or pan filled with water placed on top of husks so as to keep them fully immersed in water. Drain, place soaked corn husks in sealed zipper-type bags and seal tightly to keep them moist. Set aside.
Heat water, or combined water and liquid from canned corn. While water is heating, pulverize grits in a blender until fine, then transfer to a medium sized bowl. Whisk boiling liquid into pulverized grits; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in masa harina and Garlic Gold® Sea Salt Nuggets. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Place corn in food processor; pulse to a medium-coarse consistency, about 60 seconds. Add remaining ingredients (excluding corn husks) and process for one additional minute.
Tear small pieces of corn husk to be used as ties. Take each corn husk and fill with about 3 Tablespoons of the masa dough. Fold the two long sides of the corn husk over the tamale mixture, then tie with the corn husk “ ties” on each end to seal. Set tamales on lined cookie sheet covered with damp paper towel.
Take a very large soup kettle and place a vegetable steamer inside. Fill with water up until it just creeps over the vegetable steamer. Line steamer with corn husks, and put additional husks you may have left along the sides. Fill kettle with tamales, standing each one upright as though they were asparagus stalks. Cover and steam on low heat for about one hour, replenishing with boiling water as needed.
Serve warm with your favorite sauce or salsa for dipping.
Variation: For a less garlic-intense experience, substitute equal parts salted butter, (such as Organic Valley), and Garlic Gold® Oil for the 6 Tablespoons Garlic Gold® Oil.
Variation #2: Make each tamale a little bit larger, and inside each tamale put the following: shredded cooked chicken, shredded Monterey jack cheese, and sliced jalapeno rings if desired; steam as directed above.
