Corn Chowder

There is something so comforting about a nice thick sweet corn chowder. Paired with the jalapeño biscuits it's divine! What's even better is that it's so simple to make!

Ingredients:

2 onions, diced

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp sugar

1 medium carrot, sliced and quartered 

3 medium potatoes, cubed 1/2"

2 ears of sweet corn (or two cans)

4 cups of vegetable stock

2 cups of water, 1/2 cup reserved

1 tbsp starch (potato or corn)

Salt to taste

On medium heat add oil and onion. When the onions are clear sprinkle the sugar and cook until browned, or caramelized. 

Add in the carrot and the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling add corn and potato cubes and cook until soft, about 20 minutes. Remove about half of the soup and set aside. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup into a "rough" texture. Then add in the soup set aside and bring back to a low boil. 

With the 1/2 cup of warm water set aside, stir in the tbsp of starch and once dissolved stir slowly into soup. Voila! Perfect corn chowder! If you like more vegetables in yours you can add them. 

Hot Tamale!

Ok, so the lovely Jaime came over and helped me make tamales. By "helped" I mean she drank red wine and talked me out of bad ideas. Or at least tried to. In not very good at listening or taking direction. Which is why I now have a massive vat of corn dough leftover. I should have halved the recipe. Dangit! 

Anyhow, after making the filling and then the dough, it was time for the pain in the ass banana leaves. I searched all over the place for corn husks but everywhere was sold out. Fack. So I googled and got banana leaves as a substitute. 

The banana leaves are a pain in the ass and this better be worth it! Good lord. Each one is 3 feet long and frozen in a Z fold. Before they can be used they need to be cleaned and soaked in hot water. 

I was having trouble with them splitting, which was apparently entertaining to watch and entirely my fault. I'm not a gentle cook, obviously. Smashy Smashy! 

I loaded the steamer and set the timer for just over an hour.  I did an hour and change because I wanted to be sure they were cooked through even though the recipe only calls for an hour.

Once they were done we sampled one plain and with taquiero sauce. Tomorrow I'll try it with the sauce and vegan sour cream. I bet it will be amazing! 

The finished product!!! It's like opening a Christmas present!