Tamales have to be one of the most simple and delicious foods there is, and yet at the same time, also one of the most labor intensive. But somehow, I find that it’s always worth the time and the effort that you inevitably put in to making them; the long process of procuring these masa encased wonders of amazingness is, in my opinion, as enjoyable as eating the end result itself.
In this vegan tamales recipe, wrapped in a cornhusk you have an incredibly fluffy olive oil masa, laden with spiced up shredded jackfruit and brown lentils, and steamed to perfection. Afterwards, add alongside the freshly steamed tamales a dollop of an easy to make chipotle cashew crema, and well, your tastebuds will be in a veritable tamale paradise.
“But I always felt that I’d rather be provincial hot-tamale than soup without seasoning.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
What You Need To Know: Vegan Jackfruit Recipes
If you’re new to jackfruit, then I know that you’re going to want a bit of information about it before you dare crack open a can before you start this vegan tamale recipe. At least, that was the case for me.
I had heard about jackfruit for years, but didn’t consider using it until I saw the ingredient in action in this delicious Vegan Jackfruit Barbacoa by Plant Test Kitchen. There, Amy uses an Instapot to cook shredded young jackfruit to perfection, plus she has some really good information about the ingredient and how to cook with it.
In addition to the resources from Plant Test Kitchen, I’ve assembled a lil’ cheatsheet for the jackfruit newbies out there, so that you have the utmost confidence to try it in this vegan tamales recipe.
1. Jack…fruit? Fruit?! Isn’t it sweet?
Firstly, know that there are two different types of canned jackfruit: young jackfruit and old jackfruit. Young jackfruit is the kind that you want to buy for savory dishes, since it has little to no inherent flavor of its own. Once shredded, young jackfruit will taste like whatever spices or sauces you throw it in to. Old jackfruit, on the other hand, is sweet!
So check the cans label before buying jackfruit, you want young jackfruit for vegan jackfruit recipes that are savory, including this vegan tamales recipe.
2. How do you shred jackfruit?
Drain the jackfruit, rinse it briefly, and then dry it on a towel gently. After that, pull the chunks apart like a savage beast; it shreds very easily and with minimal effort, and it has a similar texture and appearance to shredded pork or chicken, which adds greatly to the texture in this vegan tamales recipe.
Discard any part of the jackfruit chunk that is hard, like the base of the chunks or some of the seeds. When in doubt, if it doesn’t shred easily, just throw it out; you’ll have a better overall bite in this vegan tamales recipe if you do that.
3. Does jackfruit need to be cooked?
Not really. Like most plant-based food, heating something through is often sufficient. In this vegan tamales recipe, and in most vegan jackfruit recipes for that matter, you don’t really have to worry all that much about becoming sick from undercooked jackfruit.
“Do you want to make a tamale with peanut butter and jelly? Go Ahead! Somebody will eat it.”
– Bobby Flay
How To Use The Steamer: Vegan Tamales Recipe Edition
If you’ve never steamed anything before, don’t let that intimidate you from exploring the amazing cooking potential this particular apparatus has. Steamers are an amazing way of cooking something evenly, in great quantities, and without any additional need of oil.
Here are some tips that may be helpful in this vegan tamales recipe, especially if you’re new to steaming tamales.
– Make sure the water in the steamer does not reach the tamales in the basket. You want to steam the tamales, not boil them.
– Every so often, check how much water you have in the bottom of the steamer so that your supply doesn’t deplete completely. A steamer without steaming water is just a burning pot, and we don’t want that (I know this one from experience..).
– Don’t be afraid to check your tamales at 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 75 minutes, if need be. Use a pair of tongs to fish out a tamale, unwrap it, and test to see if the masa is done. Everything else is already cooked, so we’re really just waiting for the dough to cook through. If it’s not ready, re-wrap it, and place it back into the steamer with the open end up, of course.
– Place a medium-sized canning jar in the center of the steam basket. This will allow you to more easily fit the tamales in the steam basket around the edges, without the cornhusk unfurling, and also this is a safeguard from overcrowding the steamer with tamales. Overcrowding the steamer with too many tamales may affect how they cook. It depends on your steamer of course, but aim for like.. as if the tamales were a gathering of opera glasses-wearing theater lovers rather than an elbow-jabbing mosh pit kind of crowd.. you know?
“If you were food, you would be corn. I don’t know why, i just sense corn in you.”
– Lizbeth Mori
How To Wrap A Tamale
I don’t know if there’s an absolutely foolproof way of wrapping a tamale perfectly, so don’t fret if you can’t get the filling entirely encased in masa.
However, one piece of advice I can give about the process that’ll make it loads easier is if you set up your tamale making station; a conveyor belt like series of steps for the most efficient tamale making possible: cornhusks –> masa –> filling –> steamer.
The next piece of advice – and the most important one at that – is to just do your best. Tamales are supposed to be fun to make, so don’t stress it too much. One of the greatest things about tamales is a pristinely packaged tamale is as delicious as a slightly deformed one.
Even so, I’ll show you a brief step by step collage to placate any trepidation that you may have about the process itself.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
– William Arthur Ward
Chipotle Cashew Cream
Yes, you can eat these tamales with pretty much any accompaniment that you want and they’d still be superbly delicious, but I would still heartily recommend to pair the tamales with a chipotle cashew cream.
Soaked raw cashews, blended with chipotle, lime juice, coconut yogurt, salt and water create this absolutely creamy, amazing, stupendous sauce that pairs perfectly with this vegan tamales recipe.
One canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, with its smokey flavor, is enough to transform an ordinary cashew cream into an extraordinary one, as well as an ordinary vegan jackfruit recipe into one that you won’t soon forget.
“This woman talk like she from so deep in the country she got corn growing in her shoes.”
– Kathryn Stockett
The Perfect Masa Dough
This one’s gonna require a bit of elbow grease on your part; whipping the masa harina, olive oil, vegetable broth, baking powder and salt together in the largest mixing bowl that you can find is quite the upper arm exercise.
With that said, you can just use an electric mixer if you have one. However, masa has traditionally always been made without the use of electric appliance, so it’s no necessary by any means. Plus, the more hard work and determination that you put into this vegan tamales recipe, the bigger the accomplishment you’ll feel when you’re eating them.. at least, that’s what I told myself whilst nursing a tired mixing arm.
Be sure that if you are stubborn enough to mix the masa with a spatula or your hands or whatever, that you really whip it. You want a dough that will be fluffy when steamed, so you need to incorporate some air into it whilst bringing the dough together.
So mix the dough vigorously just until it stops sticking profusely to the sides of the large mixing bowl. That’s when you know it’s ready. Cover it tightly with a slightly damp cloth or some kind of wrap until you’re ready to use it; this’ll keep it from drying out in the meanwhile.
“The secret of happiness is variety, but the secret of variety, like the secret of all spices, is knowing when to use it.”
– Daniel Gilbert
Looking for more recipes like this one?
If you’re loving this vegan tamales recipe, then I bet you’ll also love these recipes, too!
Vegan Jackfruit Barbacoa (from Plant Test Kitchen)
“They say California’s the big burrito; Texas is a big taco right now. We want to follow that through. Florida is a big tamale.”
– Dan Rather
Vegan Tamales Recipe
Are you ready for one of the most delicious vegan tamales recipe that you’ll ever have? If yes, then fire up those steamers, break out the masa harina and your biggest mixing bowl, and delve into this vegan jackfruit recipe with open arms and empty stomachs.
Follow the vegan tamales recipe, put in a little bit of elbow grease and effort, and you’ll have some extraordinary results!
“Laughter is brightest where food is best.”
– Irish Proverb
Did you make this vegan tamales recipe? Then consider leaving me a comment and recipe rating before you go!
Jackfruit & Lentil Tamales with Chipotle Crema
Ingredients
- ~ 30 (ish) large cornhusks, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
For the Masa Dough
- 4 cups masa harina
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 cups cooked brown lentils, canned or freshly cooked
- 1 (14-ounce) can young jackfruit, shredded
- ½ cup juice from the diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Chipotle Cashew Crema
- ½ cup Fair Trade raw cashews, soaked for 30 minutes in hot water
- ½ cup warm water
- 1 chipotle chili (from a can) in adobo sauce, diced
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut yogurt
- 2 – 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- Dash of salt
Instructions
- Begin by soaking about 30 large cornhusks in warm water for about 30 minutes. Also, pull some of the smaller cornhusks into long strips of about the same quantity, and soak those as well (the strips will be your string to tie the cornhusks into place).
- Now to make the masa, simply combine the masa harina, vegetable broth, olive oil, baking powder and salt in as large a mixing bowl as you have, and then fold the ingredients together with a spatula. Once there is no longer any free liquids splashing about, vigorously mix the dough for 5 minutes, until it no longer readily sticks to the sides of the mixing bowl. This WILL be an arm workout. You can also use an electric mixer of some kind, if you want. Cover the masa harina with a slightly damp dish towel until you're ready to use it.
- Next, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté the garlic and yellow onion for 5 minutes, and then add the drained diced tomatoes and let that cook for another 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, drain and then rinse the jackfruit chunks. Set them on a paper towel or dish cloth to dry, and then shred the chunks of jackfruit by pulling it apart with your fingers. Discard any bits that are too hard, or the round little seeds that pop out whilst shredding. Also, open, drain and rinse a can of brown lentils. You'll need about 2 cups cooked for this recipe. Alternatively, you can prepare the lentils beforehand by cooking dry brown lentils for about 15 – 20 minutes in boiling water, just until they're soft but still a little bit firm.
- Now you can add the brown lentils, shredded jackfruit, juice from the canned tomatoes, ground cumin, chili powder, salt and ground cinnamon to the skillet. Mix this together with the other ingredient, and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes, until heated through and everything is coated in spices. Remove the skillet from the heat when finished.
- You're ready to assemble the tamales. Remove the cornhusks from the warm water, and dry them off a little bit with a towel. Take the large cornhusk, and pat about 2 – 3 tablespoons of masa dough (about 3 – 4 inch square or rectangle & about a ¼-inch thin) in the center of it, more near the top than the bottom.
- Next, take 1½ – 2 tablespoons of the jackfruit & lentil filling, and place it directly in the center of the masa dough, so that there's a small boarder of masa around the filling.
- Fold one side of the cornhusk over and towards the center of the masa dough.
- Then, fold the other side of the cornhusk the rest of the way, over the side of the husk you've already folded.
- Peel the bottom of the cornhusk up and towards the center of the folded tamale. Then, take the strips of cornhusk that you soaked in water earlier, and use them as makeshift ties, holding the bottom folded bit in place. Repeat these steps until you have anywhere from 24 – 30 tamales.
- Fill your steamer with a bit of hot water, just enough so that it doesn't surpass the level where the basket with the tamales will be. Place your tamales carefully in the steam basket, open side up. You'll probably have to do this in 2 batches, so no need to overcrowd the steamer with too many tamales. Anywhere from 15 – 18 is probably enough. Helpful tip: consider placing a medium-sized canning jar in the center of the steam basket, so that you can line your tamales around the edges, and it's easier to place them in the steamer without them falling apart.
- Steam the tamales at steady simmer (about medium heat) for 60 – 75 minutes, until the dough is firm. At 60 minutes, unwrap a tamale and check to see if the dough is still sticking to the inside of the husk. A little stick is okay, but if the dough feels wet, let them cook for another 15 minutes. Also, remember to check and then to replenish if needed the supply of hot water in the steamer, so that your steamer pot doesn't burn on the bottom, and so that the tamales will continue to steam.
- While the tamales are steaming, soak raw cashews for 30 minutes in hot water. Once they're soft, drain them and then blend with the ½ cup warm water, the canned chipotle chili, coconut yogurt, lime juice and salt until very smooth. Then, set the cashew crema aside until you're ready to use it.
- Remove your tamales from the steamer when they're finished, and let them cool for 10 minutes. Serve straight out of the cornhusk with some chipotle cashew crema!
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
These are time consuming and many steps to get to the finished product, but they are worth EVERY second of time spent as they are delicious, and because they are so fun to make. We made two batches with different fillings and about 30 tamales..Then you get to the other fun part – the eating – and giving them away to friends to enjoy. Wee had a blast.