Sweet corn tamale cakes
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Makes: about 6 cakes
For the Cakes
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 6 tbsp applesauce, sweetened
- 2 tbsp butter, unsalted, softened
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup tamale masa
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Combine frozen corn, butter, and applesauce in a food processor. Process until mostly smooth. Dump mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add salt and tamale masa. Mix until just combined.
- Form cakes using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. Mixture will be wet, but still manageable. Gently press into a round cake and place on baking sheet lined with lightly oiled parchment paper.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Flip cakes and bake for another 3 minutes. Do NOT overcook! You want these cakes to be soft and delicate.
For the Salsa Verde
- 1 1/2 – 2 lbs tomatillos
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 jalapeño
- 1/2 small onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- small handful cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Wash tomatillos, poblano pepper, and jalapeño, Dry well. Remove stems from peppers. You can deseed the peppers if you don’t want your salsa to be spicy. Layer tomatillos, peppers, onion and garlic on baking sheet. Broil until slightly charred.
- Dump the roasted vegetables into a blender along with cilantro, salt, and pepper. Blend until desired consistency. You can add water to thin it out if needed. I don’t.
For the Pico De Gallo
- In a small bowl combine diced tomato, diced onion, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, chopped jalapeño, salt, pepper, and fresh lime juice.
For the Guacamole
- In a small bowl combine mashed avocado, diced onion, minced garlic, chopped cilantro, chopped jalapeño, salt, pepper, and fresh lime juice.
To assemble, spread a generous amount of salsa verde on a plate, top with sweet corn tamale cake, then top that off with guacamole, and pico de gallo. You can add cheese and/or sour cream if you like. My guys like theirs topped with a little crumbled queso fresco and sour cream.
Notes: For the pico de gallo and guacamole, I don’t really measure. I just use whatever I have on hand and toss it all together.
For the cakes, I use applesauce to lower the fat content. You can use just butter for a richer more delicate cake, but it’ll be pretty fattening. I don’t suggest using just applesauce because that will yield a rubbery cake. You still need a little fat. I find that 1-2 tablespoons balances it out perfectly. Plus the sweetened appplacesaue gives the cakes a slightly sweet taste which compliments the spicy toppings nicely. I promise you won’t taste the apple.
You can use whatever corn flour you want. I just prefer to use the one linked above.
I slightly modified this recipe for Roasted Salsa Verde. It’s the only recipe I use for salsa verde.
*The original recipe first appeared on my vegan food blog.
