I think these may have been another gift from the lovely Amey. Unlike some of the other ingredients featured this month, I always know what I wanted to with these, but I was just intimidated at the thought of making TAMALES. I’ve only ever eaten them once, for brunch at Watercourse Foods in Denver quite a few years ago. MoFo was the inspiration to get me into the kitchen and get rolling!
I decided to make the seitan red chile tamales from Viva Vegan. I had some red seitan in the freezer already which speeded up the process considerably and I made the chile sauce in advance too, to make the task more manageable. When it actually came to it, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected and was actually quite therapeutic. Mind you, I enjoy making pierogi, ravioli and other fiddly kitchen jobs so perhaps it was to be expected. I especially liked the fact that they spend an hour in the steamer so that there’s plenty of time to put together the sides, which in my case consisted of the lime coriander rice from the same book, pickled red onions left over from last week, some salsa and avocado slices.
Despite my worries, these worked absolutely beautifully. They peeled away from the corn husks and stayed together. The filling was spicy and astonishingly meaty – they tasted wonderful and the accompaniments went really well.
I have a couple of batches in the freezer for quick meals but I won’t be intimidated about making them again.
I’m sure there are lots of corn husk experts out there!
Cooking the Vegan Books 
Lovely! I too found them unexpectedly easy to use. A bit fiddly but well worth the effort! http://justbloggs.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/tamales-try-something-new/
I have to admit that I didn’t love making tamales but having tamales in the freezer for a quick meal is the best.
yay! I totally sent you those! I really love making tamales. I usually do a huge batch for either thanksgiving or xmas, and then I love having the leftovers in the freezer. I really enjoy the ritual and the process of it. and like you said – they’re not really that hard! 🙂 Also, that’s a great recipe!
I’ve been too intimidated to try doing this, but maybe now’s the time.