Now, this is the real deal on a tamale pie recipe!

Making the corn meal crust and having a bottom and top crust, but mostly that the corn meal filling is seasoned with salt and chili powder.

This gives the cornmeal filling a real tamale flavor as the juices soak into the mushy meal.

This is the exact recipe my mother used to make back in the 60's, and she always used cream style corn which made the dish more loose, and not stiff.

Just before it was done she would take it out of the oven sprinkle it all over with sharp cheddar cheese, then some finely chopped green onions, then scatter with black olives. Her final touch was a light sprinkling of paprika.

When she took it out of the oven it smelled and looked so delicious!

She served it with a really nice green salad with everything in it and her home made tomato salad dressing.

To top it all off there was always a glass pitcher of red cherry Kool-Aid on the table! :)

I tell you this was a meal made in heaven.

Thank you!

I cut recipe in half (used a loaf pan) & used leftover taco meat with other ingredients, waited til last 15 minutes to add cheese to top.. Was yummy, goes great with pinto beans. Will be making this again!

Great recipe! I used Rotel tomatoes and added 1 tsp. each of dried oregano, cumin, and garlic powder to the filling. I also layered half the cheese under the top crust and reserved the other half for the very top in the last 10 minutes of cooking. We loved it! Will make again, but cut half the salt in the filling.