For the tamales
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200 g fine cornmeal
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1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
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1 pinch sea salt
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½ teaspoon baking powder
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50 g golden caster sugar
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50 g unsweetened desiccated coconut
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½ pineapple, approximately 150g, peeled, core removed, halved and really finely diced
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zest and juice of 1 lime
For the chocolate sauce
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200 ml single cream
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100 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces
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1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cubed
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1 pinch sea salt
Method
Soak your cornhusks in a bowl of warm water or, if you're using
greaseproof paper, cut yourself 16 pieces roughly 12x20cm. In a separate
bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, coconut and
chopped pineapple. Add the lime zest and juice and pour in 200ml of
water to bring everything together. Mix well, until you've got a thick
spoonable paste.
Put a large pan of water on to boil – the pan needs to be big enough to
fit a colander on top. Take a soaked cornhusk or piece of greaseproof
paper and spoon a heaped tablespoon of your pineapple mixture into the
middle of the husk or paper; if the husks are thin you might have to
layer two on top of each other. Fold the sides in to cover the filling,
then twist the ends and use string to tie them so they look like
Christmas crackers.
Lay your prepared tamales in a large colander or steamer, making sure
they're all in one layer and not overlapping. Cover the top of the
colander with tin foil and seal it nice and tightly. If you don't have a
colander large enough you can always steam the tamales in 2 batches.
Pop the colander on top of your pan of boiling water and steam for about
20 to 25 minutes. About 5 minutes before they're due to be ready, start
making your chocolate sauce.
Gently bring the cream to the boil in a pan on a medium heat. As soon as
it starts to boil, take the pan off the heat and stir in your chocolate
pieces until they're perfectly melted and combined. Add the cubes of
butter and a pinch of salt and stir well until the butter is melted.
Open one of the tamales to check that it's perfectly cooked – it should
be solid and the wrapping should peel away from it easily. Take them off
the heat and let them cool down slightly so they're cool enough to
handle but still warm and delicious. Lay them on a platter next to a jug
of your warm chocolate sauce and let everyone get involved and unwrap
their own.
