Blanch a batch of hoja santa (Piper auritum) leaves, and you’ll know where they picked up their English nickname—root beer leaves. My kitchen filled with the scent of A&W as I plunged the greens into a boiling pot of water. Used in Mexico, and especially in Veracruz, hoja santa—translation: sacred leaf—is often wrapped around fish and tamales to impart its herbal, anise flavor. It’s also a key ingredient in mole verde.
I chose the tamale route for my CSA-inspired hoja santa experiment and used a Food & Wine romaine-wrapped tamale as my guide. The Food & Wine version, however, omitted any sort of cornmeal, which I couldn’t stand for. Without masa harina in the cupboard, I cooked a quick, thick batch of polenta, and spooned the pre-cooked cornmeal into the hoja santa leaves, along with queso blanco, onions and roasted poblanos. Post-blanching, the leaves are fairly delicate so after folding them over the filling, I wrapped the packages in aluminum foil before dropping them onto a hot grill pan.
After eight short minutes, the foil packets yielded steaming tamales with oozing cheese and soft polenta surrounded by veggies. The preparation is far from authentic, but it takes considerably less time (you’ll easily saves hours) than traditionally steamed tamales. You can play with the filling, too. Mushrooms would be a nice addition, as would a touch of meat.
I served the tamales with refried beans, chopped tomatoes and sour cream. And though some recipes say to toss the leaves (they may or may not be harmful to health in large quantities), we ate everything but the aluminum foil.
Quick Hoja Santa Tamales
1 1/2 cups water
6 tablespoons corn meal
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 poblano peppers, roasted, skins removed, and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
8 hoja santa leaves
12 ounces queso blanco, crumbled
Salt and pepper
Instructions
In a small sauce pan, whisk cornmeal into 1/2 cup water. When incorporated, add remaining water and stir to remove any lumps. Place pan onto the stove, and cook on medium-low heat until thick, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, poblano, and garlic, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, along with oregano, and remove from heat.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Blanch hoja santa leaves in batches for 8 seconds. Unfurl the leaves and drain on paper towels.
On a clean work surface, take one hoja santa leaf, and depending on the size, place 2 tablespoons polenta, 1 heaping tablespoon onion-poblano mixture, and 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese in the center of the leaf. Fold the leaf over the filling, and wrap the package in aluminum foil. Repeat with remaining leaves.
Heat a grill pan on medium heat. Place the foil packages on the pan, and cook for four minutes on each side. Remove foil, and serve tamales.
Serves 4 (light main courses)
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