Pumpkin Tamales

I have several pumpkin tamale recipes, and had planned on making the two main types. One is a sweet side dish which appears around the holidays. The pumpkin is mixed with masa harina (corn flour), sugar, spices and raisins and steamed in corn husks with no distinct filling. Another version that has many variations contains a simple masa harina "shell" with a savory pumpkin filling. This plan was put on hold because I couldn't find dried corn husks at the three grocery stores I went to. I'm pretty sure people eat tamales all year around in this town so somebody carries them. I did find a tamale kit - husks and corn flour - for 12 tamales, you just add the filling.

There was another grocery store mishap, and the Hub accidentally bought ground pork instead of Mexican chorizo. My filling contained 4oz of ground pork seasoned with some Mexican seasoning in a poor imitation of chorizo, a can of pumpkin puree, spices and some lime juice.

I made these on a Sunday when we were having something else for dinner. Andrew, the Hub and I each had one and thought they were good, but no one was raving about them. I divided the rest up for lunches. On Monday there are usually lots of lunches in the frig to pick from and I was the only one to pick the tamales. They were excellent and I was secretly hoping no one would take the rest so I could have them all week. On Tuesday, the Hub and Andrew had the tamales, too. I had to laugh because both of them called me during the day to say how good the tamales were. A couple of days in the frig seemed to only enhance the flavor.