Our pal and friend of House of Q, Steve Waldron, has traveled to Mexico to visit family. While there and being an adventurous foodie eaten tamales. However for many they think of tamales as savory filed with chicken or pork while they too can be for dessert! This recipe is how to make dessert tamales at home using House of Q Sugar & Spice BBQ Sauce as crafted by Steve Waldron.

So, What’s a Tamale?

A tamale is a dish popular in Mexico and Latin America that is made corn meal or masa. This is a dough made from ground corn, hydrated, then steamed inside a corn husk or banana leaf. A simple way to think of it is a tamale is a steamed cornmeal “wrap”. There are many variations of this dish with the rule “whatever-you-have-on-hand” as the guideline for what will be inside the tamale. Some are savory with chicken or pork while others are sweet, dessert tamales like this one which Steve describes for us.

Where Do I Get the Ingredients?

If you’ve never made your share of authentic Mexican dishes at home, some of these ingredients may seem foreign to you and possibly difficult to find in a store. Many of the supplies can be found in the “international” aisle in your grocery store such as the ground corn meal or masa while corn husk could be a challenge. But with some diligence, we are sure you will get some. As mentioned above tamales can be made in corn husks or in banana leaves but it might be easier to find corn husks than it is to find banana leaves! Who knows!

As a backup plan, find an online retailer for Latin foods. There are many. However, try to find one that is close to you and appears to move inventory… the last thing you want to do is order a dated product.

Give Me Some Ideas on Different Types of Tamales

With a quick search online, you will see there are many different types of tamales. Most common are chicken and pork filled while there are meatless ones too such as jalapeno and cheese filled ones. With some creativity you can create grilled pepper tamales or even a simple onion one.

There are two ways to fill your tamale with the ingredients too… you can incorporate the “flavour” into the masa and mix it really well. That is an easy way and how Steve adds the BBQ sauce into the recipe below. Meanwhile, as you smear the masa onto a corn husk you can also add the filling at his time too… think of it as a smear of corn masa then a smear of the filling. Then you can have a pocket of filling instead of a mixed tamale. The choice is yours to discover!

Restaurant or Street Food?

As you travel through Latin America, you will discover a world of food unlike that in Canada or USA. There are often in many communities street carts or food vendors that you can get local dishes. Of course there are food trucks in pretty much every city in Canada and the USA but a food cart is a completely different experience!

For tamales you can get them in restaurants, at a market mixed amongst the vegetables and tourist souvenirs or from a street vendor. Always keep in mind the hygiene of the market or street vendors. Make sure the tamales are hot, taken right out of a steamer as versus something that might have been sitting for a while. You need to be safe when traveling!

That said however, tamales can be served at room temperature. That’s fine! Think of a tamale as a steamed cornbread instead of baked. You’d eat that at room temperature, wouldn’t you?

Not to get side tracked, but if you are not sure, no worries. Move along. But if you want to have a delicious treat while in Mexico, go get a tamale from a street cart.