Dirty South Hot Tamales With Jackfruit and Cilantro Sauce

Chef-author-activist Bryant Terry created these plant-based tamales in honor of the tamales he grew up eating, sold by an independent Black food vendor known as the “Tamale Man” who parked outside a Memphis skating rink. In a nod to the Southern African American tradition of tamale-making, he uses grits, a hot tamale staple, in the dough instead of masa or cornmeal. He fills the tamales with jackfruit, a tropical fruit that mimics the texture of meat. Soaking the grits overnight cuts their cooking time by half.