Meghan and I had been hearing a lot of good things about the new Market District grocery store that has recently opened nearby, and had a rare weekend afternoon free of other responsibilities and made our way over to give it a look. The place is massive; cars filled the parking lot and there were people everywhere. We wriggled through the aisles, marveling at the arcane products and ingredients for sale, skipping the meat and cheese counters (back ⅓ of the store) and finding ourselves in the produce area. It was there that we stumbled upon dried corn husks, and knew what we needed to make: TAMALES. Looking through some recipes, we realized we needed masa harina corn flour to make any of them, and found some at the Acme near the house. All ingredients acquired - it was go time.

Our trial run was lentil-based, and completely delicious, but I kept thinking that most people probably expect shredded beef or pork in their tamales. It reminded me of some incredible BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwiches Meghan made last fall, and I knew we needed to try our hand at “traditional” tamales with jackfruit. The results were better than I had expected, in no small part to Meghan’s fantastic seasoning and cooking of the jackfruit filling. I know, I’m a lucky dude.

Note: I didn't add enough liquid to the masa in the tamales we photographed, thus they were crumblier than expected, but the recipe reflects the correct ratios. Cooking and photographing all at once is tough, guys.