Tonight’s local menu challenge is based on Grace’s Tamales from the Waitsfield Farmers Market.  Grace’s has delicious vegan tamales but from where we live now it would take over and hour to buy them as well as the fact we can only get them on Saturday’s.  Now the Hubz has been bugging me to make a vegan tamale recipe and I have been putting it off trying to figure out a way to make the tamales without all of the fat.

Traditionally tamales are made with a lot of lard or oil or vegetable shortening and it just wasn’t going to happen for me.

Low-Fat Black Bean & Corn Tamales

Ingredients:

14 dried corn husks, plus extra husks to make ties

2.5 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
2 cups masa harina
1/2 cup warm vegetable broth
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small red onion, diced small
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1t chili powder
salt and pepper

Directions:
Place the corn husks in a bowl of water to soften for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse well. Pat dry and set aside.

In a food processor, process the 2.5 cups of corn kernels until pureed.

In a large bowl, combine the pureed corn, masa harina, lukewarm water, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and oil and use your hands to combine into a dough.

Spray a medium pan with cooking oil and place over medium-high heat. Add the onion, black beans, corn chili powder and salt and pepper and saute until the onions are soft and lightly browned; remove from the heat.

To assemble a tamale, place about 3 tablespoons of masa mixture in the center of corn husk. Flatten with your hand until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Place 1 tablespoon of the black beans on the masa mixture. Fold the long side of the corn husk over the filling to cover, then fold over the ends, overlapping them. Tie with a thin strip torn from an extra soaked husk. Repeat to make 14 tamales in all.

Layer the wrapped tamales in the steamer. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and steam until the filling becomes firm and the tamales are heated through, 50 to 60 minutes.

After dinner the Hubz and I went for a walk down the bridge behind our house to watch the sunset and we got to see this guy fly in:

Now off to relax with the Hubz!

P.S. Don’t forget that Almond Butter is for sale in my OpenSky Shop from now until September 7th.  A $1 from each jar sold will be donated to The Lunch Box by OpenSky as well I will make a donation for every jar sold.