We make tamales almost every year around Thanksgiving, usually the day after. We make several dozen and freeze them to eat over the next few months. They make a wonderful, quick treat for dinners and are a fun family tradition, too - many Hispanic families make them for Christmas or the New Year, but since we don't do turkeys anyway we thought Thanksgiving would be a fun time to do it.

I tweeted about making vegetarian tamales and got a lot of requests for the recipe, so I'm posting the recipe here. We'll do a follow-up post with pictures after we make them this weekend!

We use the book Tamales 101: A Beginner's Guide to Making Traditional Tamales by Alice Guadalupe Tapp as our tamale Bible. It's full of diagrams of different ways to fold tamales, recipes for vegan, vegetarian and even omnivorous recipes, recipes for sauces to dress your tamales, and hints on storing, freezing, reheating and even shipping tamales. We highly recommend having this book on your kitchen counter when you start your tamale-making adventures, and it's where I got the recipes below.

We tried making tamales by using the dried masa our first year but the tamales came out dry and it was hard to work with the dough so since then we've starting using a fresh, unprepared masa. You should be able to pick this up in a Mexican grocery, if you live in a place that has one, or in a regular grocery store if your community has a large Hispanic population.

Start your tamale-making day (yes, reserve a day and make it a family affair) by soaking your corn husks in hot water for an hour or so and then rinse the grit and dirt from them.

Vegetarian Masa
1.5 cups butter
6 tablespoons margarine
5 pounds fresh masa
2-3 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons salt

(To make a vegan masa, substitute 2 cups of chilled margarine or olive oil for the 1.5 cups butter and 6 tablespoons margarine, decrease the salt to 1.5 teaspoons and add 1 tablespoon of mushroom powder. The olive oil should be measured out and placed in the freezer overnight. Use directly out of the freezer.)

This works best with a stand mixer. Whip the butter and margarine on high until light then on low or medium alternately add fresh masa and approximately 2 cups of the stock and the salt. Beat until fully combined then whip on high for an additional 3-5 minutes until the masa resembles spackle (add stock a little at the time until this consistancy is acheived). To test if the masa is ready to use, it will float when a 1/2 teaspoon is dropped into a cup of cold water. (Continue beating if masa does not float.) Makes about five dozen tamales.

Our favorite filling is a (26 oz) can of pickled jalapenos and carrots and two pounds of grated cheese (Jack or Cheddar). Prepare the jalapenos by draining the can and cutting off the stems of the jalapenos. Mince the jalapenos and carrots. Makes about four dozen tamales.

The eagle-eyed among you may notice that you have made more prepared masa than you have filling for. We'll leave that up to you - the masa recipe is what it is because it is sold in 5 or 10-pound bags.

To assemble tamales:

Spread approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup of masa along the fat part of the corn husk making sure that you're on the smooth side of the husk so the masa doesn't stick to the ridges. Put 1 tablespoon jalapenos mix and 2 tablespoons of cheese in the center of the masa. Fold both sides in then either tie both ends or fold the bottom end up and tie in the center.

To steam the tamales:

Arrange the finished tamales in a tamale pot (or a steamer basket in an eight-quart pot) vertically and add about four inches of water and a quarter to the bottom of the part.

The quarter will clink around while the water is boiling, and if you suddenly hear silence then run, don't walk to add water to the bottom of your pot so you don't scorch your pot. Because it's very, very hard to get clean if you scorch your pot. (I suspect. I've never run out of water while steaming my tamales. Nope. Never.)

Cover the tops of the tamales with a wet dishcloth or leftover corn husks. Bring water to a rolling boil on high, then decrease to medium-high and cover with a lid to steam for approximately 1 hour. Tamales are done when the husk is easily removed from the tamale and the tamale is firm to the touch. Careful of the steam when you are removing your tamales!

Enjoy immediately with mole, enchilada sauce, sour cream, salsa, or whatever else you want to put on them, or cool and freeze for a quick microwaveable meal. These things make the most enviable work lunches you have ever been a party to. Try it and you'll see.