Vegan Tamale Success!

How can your day be anything but great when you wake up to this? I love how green Seattle is year round, but especially in the spring! I also love that you see this much green everywhere, even in an apartment building. That is not always the case. And, even though I  hear the constant roar of I-5 in the background, because of all the trees I also hear birds singing and chirping.
I'm happy to report that my tamale making was a success! They're so much easier to make than I ever imagined! I once worked with this woman who made tamales like once a month or something, and she always described it as an all day event that left her kitchen completely trashed. It just seemed like a lot of work. I was so wrong. I guess that saying about assuming making an ass out of u and me is true. At least the me part.

Getting ready for their steam!

 I used this recipe for the dough, but I didn't use Earth balance, I used three tablespoons of EVOO- That's extra virgin olive oil(HAHAHAHA) A lot of the recipes I looked at used a lot more oil than I wanted to use. I feel like three tablespoons was fine, and to be honest the next time I make these I will try using only two tablespoons. The dough was not dry by any means with less oil. For the filling, I combined one can of black beans with 1/4 cup of diced canned green chilis, cumin, garlic powder, S&P, and a little nutritional yeast. I also added a tiny bit of cheddar daiya to make them special.

After steaming, before being dressed up.

My only problem was with the ends, I still need more practice on my rolling skills, but they held together, and tasted great so I feel like they are a pretty good first effort!

I dressed these beauties up with some Tofutti sour cream, salsa, cilantro, and green onion. Oh, and of course some avocado. How lucky was I that my avocado was perfectly ripe the same day I made tamales!
The tamales took an hour to steam, but to prepare them it was only like twenty or thirty minutes at the most. The dough doesn't have to rest or rise. And, the  dough is super easy to work with. And the ingredients are so cheap! I paid like two dollars for the Masa flour, and we all know how cheap black beans are. And you don't need vegan cheese to make these delicious either. And it feels like a fancy meal. I felt happy while these were steaming, because I made something a little special for myself, ya know?
Before I sign off to go take the longest walk in the sun, I wanted to leave a link for the newest Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack podcast. It really hit close to home in a lot of ways, and inspired me. I love that they inspire me in  very non judgmental ways. Through discussing their own feelings, and being honest about their own struggles, it makes me feel safe to see where I'm making mistakes, or slacking off. I feel like sometimes leaders, speakers, "experts" whatever you want to call them can be hard to relate to, like they're talking at you, not to you. That's when you lose me. Anyway, I seriously cannot say enough good things about this podcast. Listen to it when you're doing something really mundane, I swear it will make the time fly!
Happy Sunday!