Baked tamal

I love tamales, but they are kind of a hassle to make, so I was delighted to find a recipe for a baked tamal in Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. You make one big tamal in a pie plate (I used a round casserole dish), and cut and serve it in wedges.

I used coconut oil in place of lard. (The recipe has you test the consistency by floating a small dollop in a glass of water, and mine didn't really float very well no matter how long I beat it. I decided it was good enough when it rose a little way from the bottom of the glass and hung there.)

I filled the tamal with leftover black beans, roasted pumpkin, and some shredded cheddarish soy cheese. We had this with tomatillo salsa (hooray for home grown roasted tomatillos in the freezer). Yum!

Tacos

We had these tacos three times this week. I am not one to repeat recipes, usually, so this is saying something.

In case I forget, this is how you make amazing tacos:

1. Steamed white seitan from Viva Vegan!, baked in the marinade suggested in the recipe for Chipotle, Seitan and Potato Tacos from the same book
2. Homemade corn tortillas
3. Avocado
4. Thinly shredded cabbage with a simple viniagrette
5. Essential Roasted Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen
(6. Optional: sauteed mushrooms and red capsicum)

The salsa really made this exceptional. It's quite simple (just rehydrated chipotles, roasted garlic and tomatillos) but so smoky, hot and satisfying. I wanted to lick my plate to get every last drop of it when I was done with my tacos.