How to Make Donna's Tamales

Donna Eichhorn always loved Latin culture and flavors. With hard work and dedication, she’s been able to turn that passion into the well known and much respected Marin food business, Donna’s Tamales, which she runs with her partner of thirty years, co-owner Shirley Virgil. 

Appropriate for someone who is a vegan, Eichhorn’s career as a chef grew organically. Raised in the San Fernando Valley, she is from a family of great cooks but has no formal training.  Her uncle asked that she make a weekly dinner, and it was always the same: lima beans, mashed potatoes and stuffed hot dogs.  

The Wood Rose in Garberville was her first experience working in a restaurant.  “On that menu, there were three entrées, one meat, one fish and a vegetarian which always wound up being Mexican,” she said.      

She also spent seven years at the Half Day Café in Kentfield, four as head chef. By that time she was so immersed in cooking that she slept with her cookbooks. 

Overseeing a kitchen staff of 20, Eichhorn made fifty different soups. Most were vegetarian.  “My talent is that I look at the title and ingredients in a recipe but I can never follow it. Typically, I make it up on my own,” she said.   

On a trip to Arizona, the partners fell in love with green corn tamales which are famous in the South West. “We weren’t vegan at the time. We didn’t know there was so much lard.  The one I invented is much lighter because I use olive oil,” Eichhorn said. 

They knew they would combine forces and always wanted to be a local and regional company. Virgil has a degree in business, with a specialty in accounting, and worked for several entrepreneurs.  In 1991, they started Donna’s Tamales together.   

Donna’s produces 4,000-5,000 vegetarian and vegan tamales a week and sells to stores in Northern California. They are also in six farmers markets – two in San Rafael, the Ferry Building in San Francisco, San Francisco State University, Temescal and Lake Merritt.  Fresh tamales have a fourteen day shelf life.  They can ship tamales frozen and have several customers on the East Coast, as well as a local distributor. 

Donna’s five basic tamales are: cheese chile, smoked cheddar with black beans, red and black beans with yams, sweet corn roasted chile, and "just corn for kids."  There are also dessert tamales, plus seasonal savory fillings such as butternut squash or asparagus, and regional ingredients like goat cheese. 

The San Rafael commercial kitchen also makes papusas, burritos, enchimales (enchiladas in a corn husk, invented by Eichhorn), which are offered at the farmers markets as well. 

Most of the kitchen crew has been with them for ten years. Five handle production. There is one delivery person and three who work the farmers markets.  And talk about fresh - the filling, stuffing and steaming are done one day and the tamales are delivered the next.   

Eichhorn and Virgil became vegans in the 1970’s, a lifestyle and philosophy which fits perfectly with living in low key Fairfax. When not in the kitchen, they are working on their 1920’s-era home.      

Often asked if they will make a chicken tamale, Virgil quips “We aren’t prejudiced, we say ‘you make the chicken and serve it next to our tamale.’ ”  

About the business, they laugh, “We were way ahead of the curve. We were green, sustainable, organic, vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, low fat and low calorie before many of these things were important.”  

Perhaps our video (to the right) will inspire you to have a Tamalata, or a tamale party, so you can cook with friends.  Remember to have some of Donna’s on hand because everyone arrives hungry.  And don’t forget the Margaritas.

Donna’s Tamales Roasted Butternut Squash Tamales – Makes 30

 Masa Ingredients:

1 cup chilled olive oil

2-1/2 pounds fresh masa (available at Latin markets)

2-3 cups vegetable stock

1-3/4 teaspoons sea salt

 Filling Ingredients:

 1 cup cooked black beans

2-1/2 pounds butternut squash, roasted and diced

1 small poblano chile, roasted and peeled

1 pound frozen baby corn

30 corn husks

Sauce Ingredients:

 ¼ pound yellow onion

2 cups canned crushed tomato

3 tablespoons ancho chile powder

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced

3 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Cooking Method: 

Soak corn husks 45 minutes in hot water, weighted down with a heavy pot or platter so husks are completely submerged. Rinse to remove corn silk. Drain.

To prepare the masa:

Beat chilled olive oil and masa in mixer at high speed for 3-4 minutes.  Add stock a little at a time, until mixture is smooth and soft. The consistency should be like cookie dough.  Add salt and mix until blended. 

To make the sauce: 

Sauté onion until soft. Add minced garlic and sage. Continue sautéing until onion is golden. Add ancho chile powder, cumin powder, tomato and vegetable stock.  Simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens. 

To make the filling:

Roast corn in oven at 375 degrees, on dry sheet pan, until edges are golden. Cut butternut squash lengthwise and remove seeds. Place squash in a baking dish flesh down with ¼ inch water, and bake at 375 degrees until soft. When cool, peel and cube. 

Mix the beans, roasted corn, roasted butternut squash and the sauce together. Salt to taste. 

Filling the tamales: 

Spread 2 tablespoons fresh masa in center of the soaked husk, ¼ inch from the wide edge. Add one rounded tablespoon of the filling. Fold the sides of the husk over the tamale lightly. Fold one end of the husk 1/3 up the back and place upright in a steamer. Continue folding tamales, arrange all upright and steam for one hour. 

Serve tamales plain or with salsa fresca, sour cream, avocado, and cilantro.   

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