One Hot Tamale

Tamale, pickles ramps, calamata olives, extra sauce for tamale, rice and salsa.

Mexican bentos rule. Last week I made an enchilada bento, but forgot to take a picture. The bento pictured above was packed cold for my husband, who has a microwave where he is working. For the kids, I warmed the tamale and rice before packing. Heating the rice with a bit of water also softened it enough so that it won't be hard at room temperature. If I had corn, I would have stirred some into the rice for color. Since it's a bit on the starchy side, I included a side container of apples, and of course the pickled ramp will be a refreshing foil. Your bento does not have to be made of Japanese food to be a satisfying boxed lunch.

Tamales are quite easy to make, and they're a good way to use up odds and ends. Traditionally you would roll them in corn husks or banana leaves, but a square of parchment or foil tied with kitchen string works, too; some ladies use the food-service waxed paper or foil squares that are pre-cut and come in a box like Kleenex. Most grocery stores sell Maseca, which is dried masa, and it has instructions on the bag. Instructions for rolling are beyond my scope, but there are probably numerous YouTube videos. Let me just say that, if you have a helper to tie them and a pressure cooker to speed the steaming, you can make a dozen tamales in short order. We ate half for dinner and saved the other half for lunch.

For fillings I tend to use leftovers, especially ones that are skimpy or visually unappealing, like all the scraps of meat you picked off the carcass when you made stock, or the leftover pulled pork that's not quite enough for everyone. (Or that delicious beef tongue you should have disguised better before serving it the first time.) These were made with chicken shreds, black olives and enchilada sauce. A nice vegetarian filling would be cilantro and cheese, or a filling of beans, corn and olives. Tamales are very good travel food--easy to eat, not messy, come in their own container--and as such should be added to anyone's bento repertoire.

Pickled Ramps

1 cup white balsamic
1 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
ramps

Clean the ramps and cut off most of the leaves (use them in soup or stir fry). If you are using a pint jar, just cut them about an inch shorter than the jar. Pack as many into the jar as you can without bruising them. Warm the brine to dissolve the sugar and salt. Let it cool, then pour over the ramps. Screw on the lid and put them in the fridge. They'll be ready in a couple days. Mmmmmmmm.

Faux Enchilada Sauce

This is my lovely sister-in-law Jenny's no fuss, no recipe way to make enchilada sauce when you live two miles north of Podunk in The Land Mexicans Forgot. This is not authentic, just easy and tasty. And gluten-free, which the canned ones are not.

tomato (sauce, diced, puree, paste, whatever)
canned chipotles in adobo, to taste
olive oil
garlic
onion
chili powder (or paprika, cumin and oregano)
salt
tiny pinch of cinnamon

Put everything into the food processor. You may sautee the onions and garlic first if you like. If using tomato paste, add water. Blend and taste. Use.

For example, when I made this last week, I used a 28oz can of diced tomatoes, 1/3 of a small can of chipotles, a glug of olive oil, one onion diced and sauteed, one garlic clove, a tablespoon-ish of paprika, about 2 tsp of cumin, and no oregano cause I'm out--I might have subbed a shake of poultry seasoning. It made some fine enchiladas last week, and worked great in the tamales, too.