Vegetarian Tamales
Some of my favorite tamales in the world are Granny’s tamales that you can buy in Corpus Christi. When we go to the beach we always hunt down their truck and take home several dozen. My favorite are their cream cheese chili. We usually get two dozen of these because even though we have pork and brisket options, these go twice as fast‼
This is a recipe very similar to Traditional Tamales. The method is the same. You can adjust the spice level by choosing mild or spicy chili powder and mild or spicy green chilis.
If you are using store bought broth, check the salt level If it is salty, reduce the amount of salt you add to the dough.
Ingredients
2 dozen Corn Husks
4 cups Masa Harina
½ tsp baking powder
1 cup light olive oil
3 ¼ cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
1 lb cream cheese
3 cans green chilis, drained
Instructions:
Put the corn husks in a large container and cover them with hot water. Soak for an hour.
Make the dough by putting the next 5 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the dough comes together. It should hold together, be moist and spreadable.
Mix the cream cheese and chilis. Put this into a sip top bag.
Construct the tamales like described in the Traditional Tamale recipe. Instead of putting meat in each one, cut the corner off of the cream cheese bag and squirt a line of this down the middle of each tamale. Make the hole large enough so that the line is about ½ inch wide and the length of the tamale.
Steam the tamales using one of the techniques in the Traditional recipe.
Enjoy!