It’s a grey and dark outside, the shortest day of the year… So let’s cook colorful. Tamales improvisation. I have no idea how they should be. I had fun making them and I found them delicious. The beef flavor in the masa was really great.
Some ingredients are from the freezer like the avocado and beans :
Avocado, red onion (salted, let 30 minutes, rinsed), sudachi lemon (with 1/3 of its peel) meli-melo.
Chocolaty black (soy) beans. These 2 side dishes are refreshing and sweet. The red salsa (tomato, red chili) is fierce.
MAKING TAMALES :
Corn cob husks and colorful hot chiles.
The meaty flavor : carnitas and “lard”.
Well, it’s slow-cooked sliced pork with onion and sudachi lemon, and beef fat. They give the cubes of fat in supermarkets here, as it’s a necessary ingredient for the sukiyaki. At that price of zero yen, I sometimes take a few. That’s not so “sinfully fat” as you may think. I used 1/2 cube (4 grams) for the whole, the flavor is powerful.
The masa… I don’t have real masa powder. It’s a mix of polenta (grits) and corn flour, plus spices, salt, the melted beef fat, olive oil, water.
2 flavors, carnitas or green chili ‘n cheese.
>>>>> 
After about 30 minutes of steaming.
Cal 721.8 F29.2g C95.2g P25.8g
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 
A+ food photography! Everything looks delicious.
Oh yummy! Looks so tasty.
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