Instructions: When I asked for a lowfat tamale recipe, Beverly Overman sent me a great recipe (I havent tried it YET). Since I havent seen her post it, Im going to do it for her because it sounds really terrific! Here it is:

"My mom went through a period of time that she did not eat any meat so she began substituting veggies/lentils for meat ingredients. One of those dishes was hot tamales. She used to combine tiny cubed potatoes, onions, red beans, and corn then kind of mashed them up a little and used them for the filling. Of course she used cumin, chili powders, etc., in addition to the veggies.

The outside batter consists of cornmeal, water and seasonings - no oil or fats!

I use approximately 1 1/2 to 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal, approx 2/3 cup water and I use a package of the premixed "taco seasonings" and approx 1 Tbsp of chili powders for the spices. If you want it hot you can use cayenne pepper or Tabasco sauce - your preference.

The batter should be thick but of a pourable consistency - similar to pancake batter. Not too runny but not real thick. This is the tricky part. I then use about 2 Tbsp of batter for each tamale.

I put the batter (oval shaped) on the end of the tamale paper and about 2 Tbsp of filling on top of the cornmeal mixture, roll and tie tamales into bundles of 3 (I use white thread) - place in a deep pan, cover with water and cook for 45 mins to 1 hour. Take each bundle out of the water unroll and eat.

Sometimes I unroll the cooked tamales, put in baking dish, cover with an enchilada sauce, sprinkle with ff cheese and bake until thoroughly heated and cheese melts. Delicious! Beverly Overman

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