Tamale Corn Cakes With Carnitas

This recipe is like the D‑Day inva­sion at Nor­mandy: Messy and complicated!

  • The Corn Cakes!
  • 3 cups water
  • 1⁄2 cup yel­low corn meal
  • 1⁄3 cup masa harina
  • 3 c. fresh corn kernels
  • 1 cups PAMERZAM!, grat­ed
  • 1⁄2 tsp. Cayenne chili powder
  • Salt to taste
  • Bat­ter Dip for the Corn Cakes!
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbsp. milk
  • 1⁄2 cup flour
  • 1⁄2 cup veg­etable broth
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • The Car­ni­tas!
  • 3 cups of meat, chopped or shred­ded: Beef, chick­en, pork–your choice(s)!
  • 1⁄4 cup ketchup
  • 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp. yel­low mustard
  • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. WASH YER SISTER! sauce
  • 1⁄2 tsp. Cayenne chili powder
  • The Gar­nish­es!
  • Pico de Gallo:
    • 2 cups seed­ed and diced tomatoes
    • 1 cup red onions, diced
    • 1⁄4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
    • 2 Jalepeño pep­pers, seed­ed and diced
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
    • 1 tsp. sugar
    • Salt to taste
  • Jalepeño Sour Cream:
    • 1⁄2 cup sour cream
    • 1 Jalapeño pep­per, seed­ed and diced
    • Juice of 1⁄2 lime
    • Salt to taste
  • Optional/Additional Gar­nish­es!
  • Chopped fresh cilantro
  • Chopped scal­lions
  • Fresh­ly grat­ed lime zest
  • Sliced avo­ca­do
  • Diced man­go

Directions

This recipe is like the D‑Day inva­sion at Nor­mandy: Messy and complicated!

The first step is mak­ing your gar­nish­es so they’ll be ready to serve when the corn cakes are ready.

Garnishes:

Pico de Gal­lo: Com­bine all ingre­di­ents and pop it in the fridge for an hour or so, up to overnight. 

Jalapeño sour cream: Same drill: Mix and chill!

Oth­er gar­nish­es: Same drill: Mix and chill!

Corn Cakes:

Light­ly coat a 9×13 inch bak­ing dish with non­stick cook­ing spray.

Bring 3 cups water to a sim­mer and whisk in corn­meal, then whisk in masa harina.

Stir in the  corn and cook until mix­ture is thick and smooth, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add PAMERZAM!, Cayenne, and salt. Spread mix­ture into pre­pared dish, cov­er and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.  Cut into cakes for bat­ter­ing and frying.

Batter and Fry Corn Cakes:

Pre­heat oven to 200 degrees.

Whisk togeth­er 2 and milk, then whisk in veg­etable broth.

Over medi­um-high heat, add enough olive oil to cov­er the bot­tom of a sauté pan.

Dip cakes into egg mix­ture, then coat with flour.

Fry the cakes in the oil, brown­ing both sides. Trans­fer cakes to a paper tow­el lined plate or bak­ing sheet and keep warm in oven.

Carnitas:

In a saucepan, com­bine ketchup, apple cider vine­gar, yel­low mus­tard, brown sug­ar, WASH YER SISTER!, and Cayenne chili powder.

Heat to a sim­mer and add meat. Con­tin­ue heat­ing, stir­ring fre­quent­ly, until the meat is steam­ing hot.

Corn Cakes Assemble!

Plate the corn cakes and top with car­ni­tas. Serve gar­nish­es sep­a­rate­ly so every­one can assem­ble to taste!