Hot Tomali!

HOT TAMALES! Heh, a tamale (Spanish tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli), is a traditional Mexican dish consisting of steam-cooked corn dough (masa) with or without a filling. Tamales can be filled with meats (the most common of which is typically pork and/or chicken), cheese (post-colonial), and sliced chillis or any preparation according to taste. The tamale is generally wrapped in a corn husk or plantain(post-colonial) leaves before cooking, depending on the region from which they come.

Their essence is the corn meal dough made from hominy (called masa), or a masa mix such as Maseca, usually filled with sweet or savory filling, wrapped in plant leaves or corn husks, and cooked, usually by steaming, until firm. Tamales were developed as a portable ration for use by war parties in the ancient Americas, and were as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today. The diversity of native languages in the pre-Hispanic America led to a number of local words for the tamal, many of which remain in use.