Skip to main content
Main

Tamale Pie I

A baked casserole of sautéed onions, garlic, chile, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and a cornmeal-egg topping.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Tamale Pie I

Oven350°F
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and sauté onions, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and chile for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown.

  2. Add cumin, water, green beans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes to the pan and bring to a boil.

  3. Reduce heat and let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

  4. Stir in lime juice and pour the vegetable mixture into a lightly oiled baking dish.

Make the topping

  1. While the vegetables are cooking, combine cornmeal, white flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, corn, red bell pepper, and cilantro in one bowl.

  2. Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil together in another bowl.

  3. Combine the wet mixture into the dry mixture, folding until just mixed.

Assemble and bake

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the vegetable mixture in the baking dish.

  3. Spread the egg/cornmeal mixture evenly over the cheese.

  4. Bake for 30 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted into the cornmeal topping comes out clean.

  5. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1288Calories
46 gProtein
40 gFat
194 gCarbs

Counts 16 of 19 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 16 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Pumpkinnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Cumin + sweet potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together232 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,306 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the cornmeal topping and help it set firm when baked.
Cornmeal
Forms the crumbly, golden body of the topping.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that tenderise the topping batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the topping rises and lightens.
Cheddar cheese
Melts into the filling, adding richness and savoury flavour.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering to give the filling body and starch.

The step that matters

Folding the wet mixture into the dry. Stirring only until just mixed keeps the batter tender; overmixing develops gluten from the flour and gives a tough, dense topping.

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, clove, garlic, sauce, cumin, potato, sweet potato):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, clove, garlic, sauce, cumin, potato, sweet potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Sweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipesGreen Corn SoupGreen Corn Soup46 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesGreen PeasGreen Peas229 recipes