corn husk substitute for tamales?
Posted by permanentgrin on Nov 06, 2008 · Member since Mar 2006 · 1789 posts
DH and I are hosting the family for lunch on Christmas and I wanted to make tamales. The problem is, Mexican food is not readily available in Australia. We can make our own masa from scratch (um, we buy dried corn from the horse feed store...shhh...), but we always have trouble wrapping them because we can't get corn husks (other than saving them from when we have corn on the cob, but they're really small and we don't eat corn on the cob that much).
So, is there anything else I could use that I would be able to find here? I've tried baking parchment but it sticks like crazy. I have access to several Asian food stores, if that helps.
I was gonna suggest waxed paper. ..... Have you tried cheese cloth?
Tamales will often call for banana leaves or even greased foil in a pinch.
Try oiling your parchment paper first.
I have done banana leaves and they work great. But lightly oiled parchment or waxed paper should work beautifully as well. AND not impart any flavor like leaves do.