“Sometimes I clown, and step back and do the Chilebrown.” This is a story about Mexican corn tamales. My inspiration is James Brown and a local magazine called “Edible East Bay”. An article describes and talks about a special corn called ‘Mexican Corn”. This corn is not your usual sweet corn but a starchy/sweet corn specially grown for masa. When you grind it, add spices, and then cook it, you will have a special tamale treat. This corn is grown in Fremont California at the Ramirez farm. This farm is located in the middle of an urban setting. It is a beautiful farm with all its flowers, corn, and vegetables growing in our crowded ‘Bay Area’ region.
This was definitely a food adventure for Ms. Goofy and I. We set our GPS to navigate to the Ramirez farm. One hour was the estimated driving time, without factoring in the usual traffic. The corn stalks were 12 feet tall. The flowers were blooming with smiles to greet us. The Ramirez farm was our goal and we had arrived. We bought a dozen ‘Mexican Corn’ and several other food items. The vegetable technician who helped us asked what we were going to do with this special corn. We explained our quest and she gave us some helpful advice.
The recipe is simple and easy. Peel away and reserve the husks. Cut the corn and reserve the cobs to line your steam pot. Place corn kernels in a food processor. Add 1½ teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and ½ teaspoon baking powder. Whirl to create a soupy consistency. Place ½ cup of corn mixture into reserved husks and fold into packets. Steam for 30 minutes in cob lined pot.
This food adventure was a success. This tamale was sweet with corn flavor. This corn tamale was the perfect accompaniment to our steak and salsa from the garden. Something so simple, but so comforting and delicious were these Mexican corn tamales.
9 comments:
You gotta be so proud of your accomplishment.
cookiecrumb, Are you related to robertcrumb? We are getting up extra early for grooming purposes. Marin market here we come.
Never thought about R Crumb! Cool.
See you at 8.
wow, were you there today? so was I! I don't know if I got the special corn, but that tamale looks delicious. I want to make it but my dining partner is set on corn on the cob. maybe I will make one of each!
foodhoe, I think we saw you as Ms. Goofy was peeling out of the driveway. She is such an urban race car driver.
Did you ask for the Mexican corn? They had it in the back. All the Ramirez corn is great. Take pictures and report back please.
Mmmm... this reminds me of a little family restaurant that served sweet corn tamales from July through October. Those were the best! I'm going to have to attempt this... I've just got to find the corn.
This is fabulous! I didn't realize there was a special corn for this. And the process is so interesting. Great post ChiliB
Bookmarked this one. I have to try these little guys, sounds awesome. I love the tip about how to steam them using the husks, it's those kind of tips you won't get at a stupidmarket. Local vendors give you that kind of thing. Thanks for sharing this one.
I love corn tamales! Great post. How did you fold them into the husks for steaming?
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