Carrot and Habanero Tamales

Name: Carrot and Habanero Tamales
Yield: Makes 8
Ingredients: 1 cup masa harina (about 5 oz.; preferably Bob’s Red Mill or Masienda); 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt; ¼ tsp. baking powder; 2½ cups vegetable stock or low-sodium vegetable broth; 2 Tbsp. grapeseed or vegetable oil; 4 medium carrots (about 1 lb.), preferably rainbow, scrubbed, sliced ¼" thick on a diagonal; 1 habanero chile, halved; 3 garlic cloves; 1 Tbsp. grapeseed or vegetable oil; Kosher salt; 8 dried corn husks, soaked in hot water 5 minutes, or eight 10x5" pieces parchment paper; 1 carrot, preferably rainbow, peeled; ½ cup Pumpkin Hot Sauce; 4 cups mizuna or arugula; Flaky sea salt

By Maricela Vega

January 12, 2021

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Photograph by Jessica Pettway, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio

“Tamales, to me, are the ultimate comfort food,” says Maricela Vega, the chef at Atlanta restaurant 8ARM and founder of Chicomecóatl, an organization centering the foodways of Indigenous diaspora. “They originated in Mesoamerica long before colonization and have been evolving ever since. Because farmers tend to cure and store the maíz that tamales are made from by November, they’ve become a staple dish for the cold winter months. This particular tamal, filled with carrots, habaneros, and garlic, is my celebration of how the harvest from summer and fall floats into wintertime.”

Recipe notes

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