Tamales, oh tamales! Keep reading for the easiest and delicious 5 ingredient tamal de elote dulce recipe that you’ll ever find!
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Tamales are one of the most traditional Mexican dishes. You find them everywhere, and there are a lot of variations! One of my favorite are tamal de elote dulce. It is a dessert like tamal, used for breakfast, dinner, or simply as a snack. If someone is angry at you, make them some tamales and they’ll get happier (or at least, that’s what my grandma used to say :P).
A lot of people think that they are difficult to make, and that they can take a lot of time. This is because the most traditional way to make them involves using corn husks and a big “tamalera” which is a huge steamer. But you know how we love to break the rules and make things easier! so, by making a small batch (who needs 50 tamales anyway?) you can get this done in about 40 minutes! Follow us to know how to make tamal de elote dulce!
Let’s make tamal de lote dulce!
Get your ingredients:
- 5 cups of sweetcorn kernels (about 6 sweetcorn ears)
- 1 1/4 cup of cornflour. If you are in the US, this is my favorite. Just make sure you buy one that is actually corn flour and not “masa harina” or white corn flour. It has to be yellow corn flour!
- 1 cup of vegan butter (Vitalite is my favorite, feel free to use any butter that works for you)
- 1 cup of agave syrup or any other sweetener. To be fair, sweet corn is very sweet, so, perhaps start with 1/2 cup and add more if you need it. This one is my favorite from Amazon.
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (Optional)
First. start by removing the end of the corn and the husks to facilitate removing the kernels
Keep the husks if you want to use them to steam the tamales. Put them in hot water to make them more manageable.
Put the corn straight and cut it with a sharp knife on a cutting board. Or even better, use a large bowl and remove the kernels inside the bowl. Trust us, people living with you will thank you for this. If they get angry about any mess… just give them some tamales, it is proven to make people happier!
Blend the corn kernels in a blender or a food processor. Here you should not blend them for like ages! maybe 30-40 seconds at medium speed, we do want to feel the kernels when we eat the tamal! a food processor would work better than a blender, but as you can see, I used my Nutri Ninja, without any issues!
Melt the butter and integrate the corn flour, vegan butter, agave syrup, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl
Now add the blended sweetcorn kernels. I find it easier to do it in a pot at a low fire, but it is up to you, integrating everything in a big bowl also works!
Add the tamal dough to the husks or use aluminum foil or parchment paper to create rectangular tamales. I use about 8 tablespoons per tamal, if you want to use the corn husks to make them look like the tamales you would eat in Mexico, go ahead! I personally find that a bit more difficult, and I know that in some places it is not easy to find the corn with the husks! so I tried wrapping them in parchment paper and aluminum foil and it worked just fine!
Put them in a steamer. Note that you do not need a fancy tamalera for this 🙂 a normal steamer will work!
Make sure you cover the steamer and let them cook for about 25 minutes. Check them at 15 minutes! we don’t want overcooked tamales. I know some recipes call for more than 1 hour. But this heavily depends on your steamer, and the strength of your stove. You know they are ready when the dough is solidified and it does not stick to the husk or the parchment paper, so check them periodically!
Unfold, fall in love, and prepare to eat!
Enjoy!
Also, hello rectangular tamal de elote dulce:
Tamales FAQ
- Can I use parchment paper to make tamales? Yes, and also aluminum foil
- How much dough do I put? As much as you want! OK no… I put about 8 tablespoons for each tamal, that’s a “small tamal” but I like them small so I can eat like 10
- What’s the best vegan butter? I love Vitalite I hope they have it where you live!
- How to reheat tamales? You can put some drops of water on top of it and put it in the microwave for about 40 seconds, or in a pan at a medium fire
- Can you freeze tamales? Yes, but they will not be the same. They should last months in the freezer!
- How long will they keep in the fridge? About a week! but after 2-3 days, they’ll become drier, just add some drops of water and put them in the microwave if this happens
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do ❤️, it’s:
Just like the original recipe of tamal de lote dulce! but vegan!
Simply delicious for breakfast, lunch, dinner, as a dessert!
One of the most traditional Mexican recipes!
If you try this recipe, let us know! leave a comment, rate the recipe or tag a photo on our Instagram or Facebook with the tag #naturalGoodness! Get creative and make it unique, I love to see what you get up to when trying our recipes 🙂
Tamal de elote dulce
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 4 cups Sweetcorn kernels Approx 5 ears of seetcorn
- 1 1/4 cup Corn flour
- 1 cup Vegan butter
- 1 cup Agave syrup Or another sweetener of your choice
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 tablespoon Ground cinnamon Optional
Instructions
- Cut the end of the corn and remove the husks
- If your corn had husks and you want to use them to make the tamales, put them in a big bowl of hot water. This will make them much more manageable when adding the tamal dough!
- Using a knife, remove the kernels by putting the corn standed up in a large cutting board, or preferably inside a big bowl to keep the kernels from going all over the kitchen. Trust us, people living with you will tahnk you for not making a huge mess! (although offering them tamales can alleviate any issues if they get angry at the mess)
- Blend the sweetcorn kernels for about a minute. If you have a food processor, it will also work. The trick is not to blend them too much! we want to feel the corn kernels when we eat the tamal!
- Meanwhile, integrate the cornflour, butter, agave syrup baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl
- Integrate the sweetcorn kernels with the dough. You can do it in a pot at a low fire to facilitate the process
- You can use corn husks to wrap the tamales and prepare them for boiling. If you don't have them, feel free to use parchment paper or aluminum foil. Whatever method you use, the key point is to wrap them very well so the dough don't get moist from the steamer! Add about 8 tablespoons to make each tamal
- Put the tamales in a steamer. Yes! you don't need a fancy tamalera for this!
- Make sure you cover the steamer!
- Let them cook for 25 minutes. Check them at 15, just to make sure they don't overcook!
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Only 5 ingredients are the base! if you don’t live in Mexico, this recipe will suit you very well, because it does not require a tamalera and I even tested if you can make them without wrapping them in corn husks!
- Yep… they are calorie-heavy! It also depends a lot on the size of the tamales that you make. I am putting a very rough estimate of calories due to this
- This is my favorite vegan butter, it tastes sooo good! I hope you can find this or a good one near you 🙂
