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Vegan Tamales

Forget pre-packaged varieties—these made-from-scratch tamales are worth the effort.

by Susan Baldassano

December 9, 2009

Serves: 6 to 8
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Serves 6 to 8

What you need:

  • 1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
  • 1 poblano chili, cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 white onion, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup soymilk
  • 2 ears corn, roasted
  • 1 cup masa harina
  • 6 tablespoons coconut oil or 5 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon umeboshi paste
  • 1 tablespoon white miso
  • 12 large dried corn husks soaked in warm water until pliable (about 15 to 20 minutes)

What you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make filling, in a large baking pan, combine peppers, poblano, and onion with oil and roast until brown and tender, approximately 30 minutes. Set aside.
  2. In a small pot, simmer soymilk and roasted corn kernels over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Strain corn, reserving 1/2 of corn kernels. Set aside.
  3. Purée remaining corn with soymilk in blender. In a medium bowl, add pureed mixture to masa harina. With an electric mixer, whip oil, baking powder, salt, umeboshi paste, and miso at a high speed for 3 to 5 minutes. While motor is running, incorporate masa mixture in 1 cup increments. Continue to beat mixture at a high speed for 10 minutes. Add remaining corn in the final 30 seconds.
  4. Divide masa evenly between the 12 corn husks. Flatten the dough and press 1 heaping tablespoon of filling into each tamale. Wrap up in corn husk and steam for 45 minutes. Let set 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

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