blue corn tamales with purple potatoes and smoked mozzarella

I'm not sure why there is the "Young and the Restless" haze on this tamale, but let's go with it.

Some days, it takes everything you've got just to get dinner on the table. On days like that, I almost always churn out some version of a brown rice bowl. Other days, I feel like I can do anything: dominate a TRX yoga class, win DinoRush, or even try a new mermaid braid- MERBRAID. Today, I made tamales!

For these tamales, I used a combination of blue corn meal (higher in protein!) and Maseca. For the filling, I used purple potatoes and smoked mozzarella. These tamales turned out so cute; I served them with my bright green salsa.

Purple Potato Filling

12 purple potatoes, chopped finely
.5 white onion
pinch cumin
pinch coriander
.5 bottle Lost Gold IPA
salt

I sauteed the purple potatoes with onion and spices, and deglazed the pan with my favorite local IPA. You could use water or vegetable broth. Make sure the potatoes are completely cooked.

Blue Cornmeal

2 c blue cornmeal (I bought this in the bulk section of Central Market)
.5 c maseca
1.5 c vegetable broth
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter, melted
pinch salt

Mix the two corn meals with baking powder and salt. Whisk in the liquids until frothy.  This batter should be thicker than pancake mix.

 Tamale, Assemble!

Spoon a modest amount of cornmeal mix (about three inches) onto the corn husk, leaving a little well. Line up the purple potatoes, and place a slice of smoked mozzarella (or legit Mexican cheese) on the cornmeal. Roll up the husk, enveloping the filling with the cornmeal as much as possible. Wrap up the husk and tie the husk with strips of broken husk.

There are a few ways to steam the tamale. I have asian dumpling steaming baskets that work very well for tamales... you just stack them up over a pan of steaming water. Arrange the tamales flat in the steaming basket, giving them enough room to slightly expand. Or, you can stand the tamales upright in a steaming basket in a pot (if you have a chicken roaster or vegetable steamer).

Steam the tamales for 40 minutes, or until the meal separates easily from the husk (the cheese might slightly stick to the husk, and that's alright!) Open the tamale up like a little papoose and top with this creamy green sauce.

Creamy Green Sauce

I make this sauce for big parties where I can't afford to avocado everyone up. 'Cause I'm not RICH!

2 avocados
.5 a raw onion, chopped
2 poblano peppers, chopped
4 jalapenos peppers, chopped
juice of 1 lime
handful of cilantro
2 cloves of garlic
salt

Blend up all of the ingredients, adding dribbles of water to loosen the sauce. This simple sauce is so delicious, even homemade tortillas are just a homely vehicle for this liquid gold on it's journey to my mouth.