Jackson Heights Life

Are you looking for Chinese tamales or Mexican tamales? You can find some frozen Chinese tamales in Chinese supermarkets in Elmhurst on Broadway. But best would be to go into Chinatown and stock up on more varieties.

"Chinese tamales" are known as Zongzhi, available at most dim sum or Chinese pastry shops. Fay Da on Broadway and 75th, across from the large supermarket, does a pretty good one. they contain a variety of items (all together) in glutinous rice and wrapped in a lotus leaf. there's usually some shredded beef, hard boiled egg, a nugget of Chinese sausage and sometimes dried shrimp.

i've honestly never seen them. but i can say that the tamales from the various ladies who sell around here actually do freeze very well if well wrapped.

Thanks for this. Opens up a whole other food storage category for future meals.

Yes, exactly! I highly recommend Lao Bei Fang's frozen dumplings. It's cost effective, and once you master the cooking process (which is really easy) then you are basically getting restaurant-quality dumplings quickly, whenever you want them. It's perfect if you haven't the time for proper meal planning as a sort-of backup meal that's quick and delicious (pair them with a simply sautéed veggie).

Here's my new plan for the Mexican tamale situation: I'm going to check out the two Food Bazaars over in Corona and see if they have some local-branded frozen tamales. My experience with Food Bazaar is that they do a good job catering to and supporting the local communities they operate in. I used to get extremely good fresh bagels at a location in East Williamsburg, which apparently they were sourcing from a small bakery not far away from that specific location. Hoping for something similar here.

If that doesn't work, then I might try asking some of the small tamale vendors if there's any way for me to buy in bulk. Or I might have to consider getting mail order from a place like: https://texastamale.com/

Will update with my findings.

Also found this.

https://eveliastamales.com/