The nice folk at Cooking Light published the original of this recipe as “Chicken Tamale Casserole,” but, after making it, and talking with my quarantine food group, I see no real reason why you couldn’t make this with shrimp, or pork, or black beans, whatever you enjoy in your fave tamale.
Without the fuss and the corn husks, tho.
Also without the ‘fat-free’ stuff, because I don’t really care for everything that goes into making things ‘fat free.’
But…
you do what you want.
INGREDIENTS
Tamale Base:
•1/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
•1/3 cup milk
•1 egg, lightly beaten
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your fave hot sauce, to taste
•1/2 tsp ground cumin
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1 can cream-style corn
•1 (8.5 oz) box corn muffin mix
•1 can chopped green chiles, drained
Topping:
•10 oz can enchilada sauce
•2 cups diced cooked chicken
•3/4 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Serve With:
•Sour cream
•Taco sauce
•Shredded lettuce
•Chopped tomatoes
•Cilantro or parsley
Heat your oven to 400º and apply cooking spray to a 13×9 inch baking pan.
Stir the Tamale Base ingredients together until just moist, then pour into your prepared baking dish.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until set.
Note: I was making this for company, and so used a “cooler looking” baking dish that was not quite 13×9, so my tamale layer was a bit thicker, and took about 20 minutes before it was nicely set.
Remove from the oven and pierce all over with a fork.
Note: a large meat fork works a treat.
Pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the tamale base, and mebbe give it five or ten minutes to well and truly soak in.
Scatter your chicken – or shrimp or black beans or pork over the top, then top with the shredded cheese.
Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes more, then remove from the oven and let rest for five minutes before serving.
Divide as you see fit – the original recipe said to cut into eight pieces – and serve as you will with sour cream and whatever else you like on top or on the side.