Corn and Pumpkin Dessert
1 small pumpkin
2 ears corn, cut from cob
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Sugar or honey
Peel, seed and slice pumpkin.
Cover with water and simmer until tender.
Place corn kernels in a pie plate and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Add corn to pumpkin.
Add flour, stirring constantly over low heat until mixture thickens.
Add sugar or honey to taste.
Serve hot.
Hoe Cakes
The Algonquians call these Nokake.
The dough was spread on a board and set beside the fire to bake.
When it was cooked on one side, it was turned over and baked on the other side.
The blade of a hoe was often used to prop up the board beside the fire for baking and to lean baked loaves against a cooling rack.
2 cups water
2 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bring water to boil in a saucepan.
Stir in cornmeal, salt, butter and dill, if desired.
Place in a buttered 8-inch square pan and bake for 25 minutes.
Cut into squares and serve.
Serves 6 to 8.
Carne Adobado (Spiced Pork)
This is great as a filling for Indian Fry Bread.
2 cups red chile purée or
12 tablespoons chile powder
3 pounds fresh, lean pork
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon oregano
2 cloves garlic, mashed
Cut pork into strips.
Mix other ingredients, add to pork strips, and let stand in refrigerator for 24 hours.
Cut meat into cubes and brown in small amounts of oil.
Add chile sauce and simmer one hour or more.
To serve, add more fresh chile sauce and cook until tender.
Wild Sage Bread
1 envelope dry yeast
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon melted shortening
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons crushed dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Combine sugar, sage, salt, baking soda and flour.
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
Beat egg and cottage cheese together until smooth.
Add melted shortening and yeast.
Add flour mixture slowly to egg mixture, beating well after each addition until a stiff dough is formed.
Cover dough with cloth and put in warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour).
Punch dough down, knead for one minute and place in well-greased pan.
Cover and let rise for 40 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes.
Brush top with melted shortening and sprinkle with crushed, roasted pine nuts or coarse salt.
Red Chili Stew
2 pounds pork, cut into small pieces (save some fat)
5 dried red chiles
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt, to taste
Wash chiles, removing stems and seeds.
Place in blender with 1 cup water and blend into paste consistency.
Set aside.
Put pork fat into deep skillet until there is enough on the bottom of the skillet to prevent meat from sticking.
Discard remaining fat.
Brown pork lightly.
Add the chili paste and mix well, adding water if mixture is too thick.
Add oregano and garlic.
Cover pan and simmer slowly for one hour.
Popped Corn
1 tablespoon corn oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup corn kernels
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 4 tablespoons butter
1/2 to 1 teaspoon pure ground chile
Use a heavy cast-iron skillet with a lid.
Fill the skillet with a single layer of kernels, and heat the oil before you add the corn.
Use the smaller ingredients for a 9-inch skillet, and use the larger ingredients for a 14-inch skillet.
Heat oil in skillet over high heat until a test kernel pops. Shake in the kernels, cover with a lid, and when you hear the kernels begin to pop, turn down heat and shake pan gently back and forth to keep the kernels moving.
When popping sounds cease, the corn is done.
Pour corn into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt.
Melt butter with the chile and pour over the corn.
Mix with your hands.
Makes 2 to 4 cups, depending on size of skillet used.
Sautauthig (Cornmeal Blueberry Mush)
Source: Plimoth Plantation web site
A favorite dish of the Native Americans during colonial times was Sautauthig (pronounced sawÃ-taw-teeg), a simple pudding made with dried, crushed blueberries, dried, cracked corn (or samp), and water.
Later, the settlers added milk, butter and sugar when they were available.
The Pilgrims loved Sautauthig and many historians believe that it was part of the first Thanksgiving feast.
In a letter to friends back in England, one colonist describes how Sauthauthig was prepared:
“…this is to be boyled or stued with a gentle fire, till it be tender, of a fitt consistence, as of Rice so boyled, into which Milke, or butter be put either with sugar or without it, it is a food very pleasant…but it must be observed that it be very well boyled, the longer the better, some will let it be stuing the whole day: after it is Cold it groweth thicker, and is commonly Eaten by mixing a good Quantity of Milke amongst it.”
Here’s a recipe that gives us an idea of what Sautauthig tasted like.
We call it Cornmeal Blueberry Mush but you can give it any name you want.
Cornmeal Blueberry Mush
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup cornmeal or quick cooking grits
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
2 cups fresh, frozen or canned blueberries or
1/2 cup dried blueberries (see note)
In a 2-quart saucepan heat water and milk until bubbles form around edge of pan.
Stirring constantly, slowly add cornmeal or grits and salt until well combined.
Reduce heat to low.
Cover and simmer, until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in maple syrup or honey until well combined.
Gently stir in blueberries.
Yield: about 6 regular servings or 12 tasting-size servings (about 4 3/4 cups)
NOTE: Today, we don’t have to pick and dry blueberries in the summer to enjoy them year round.
We can always find them in our local supermarket - either fresh, frozen or canned, sometimes even dried.
If you are using frozen blueberries in this recipe, defrost them between 2 layers of paper towels to absorb excess liquid.
If you are using canned blueberries, drain well.
Fresh or frozen blueberries can be dried on a cookie sheet in a 250 degree F oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
Pueblo Pinon Cakes
1 cup piñon nuts
1/3 cup powdered milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
Vegetable oil
Blend all ingredients in a food processor until a dough is formed, stopping once to scrape the bowl down.
Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet to 375 degrees F.
Shape 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball.
Flatten into a disk between your palms, then fry until brown on both sides, turning once.
Do not cook so quickly that they brown on the outside and are uncooked on the inside.
The total cooking time should not be much more than a minute.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve immediately with chile salsa for dunking.
Eat cakes plain if you want to savor the unusual taste of the pine nuts.
Sacaton Relish
Sacaton is a village on the Gila River Reservation near Sacaton, Arizona (Pima Indians).
This is usually served as an accompaniment to eggs or grilled meat.
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or vegetable oil
1 cup chopped fresh, mild, green
chiles, peeled and seeded
1 chopped fresh or canned jalapeño
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
Salt (optional)
Heat drippings in a skillet.
Add chiles and jalapeño and sauté until translucent. Ad tomatoes and sauté 5 minutes more.
Season with salt, if desired.
Remove relish with a slotted spoon and serve with eggs or meat.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
Corn Cob Jelly
This is a Cherokee recipe which is light in texture and has a flavor similar to apple jelly.
12 ears fresh corn
4 cups water
4 cups granulated sugar
1 (3 fl.
ounce) package liquid fruit pectin
Cut corn from the cobs and reserve for another use.
Place cobs in water and bring to a boil.
Cover and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove cobs and strain liquid through cheesecloth or another filter.
If necessary, add enough water to make 3 cups.
Place liquid in a saucepan and stir in sugar.
Bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved.
Stir in pectin and cook 1 minutes longer. Remove from heat, skim, and spoon into sterilized jars.
Seal and store.
Makes 3 cups.
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3 Nov, 2007