CAT | Native American
Batter Bread
This is a staple of the Cheyenne Indians.
1 quart milk or water
2 cups yellow or white cornmeal
3 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bring milk to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Gradually stir in cornmeal and cook, stirring, for a few minutes
until thickened.
Beat in egg yolks, butter and seasonings.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they stand in stiff
peaks.
Fold whites into corn mixture and pour into a 2-quart baking
dish.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown on
top.
Serves 6.
Osage Bread
This is a recipe taken from the El Reno Tribune, El Reno,
Oklahoma.
Note that Native Americans dip the bread in “sop,” a
mixture of corn syrup and bacon drippings.
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon solid shortening, melted
2 cups lukewarm milk
Fat or oil (for deep-frying)
Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.
Stir in shortening
and milk.
Knead lightly to gather dough into ball.
Roll out dough
on lightly floured board.
Cut into 2-inch squares.
Heat fat or oil in deep fryer to 370 degrees F.
Fry 2 or 3 at a
time until golden on both sides.
Drain on paper towels.
Pueblo Chile Balls
The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico have been making these for
centuries.
They serve them as a dessert for feasts and
weddings.
1 cup chopped green New Mexican chile,
roasted, peeled, stems and seeds removed
1 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons salt
Flour
Vegetable oil
Brown pork; add onions, then sauté until onions are
soft.
Pour off fat as it accumulates.
Stir in chile, raisins and
sugar.
Beat egg whites until peaks form.
Combine flour and egg yolks and mix thoroughly.
Fold egg-yolk
mixture into whites until combined to form a batter.
Roll about 1
teaspoon of the meat mixture in the flour and shape into a 1-inch
ball.
When all the meat mixture has been shaped into balls, dip the
chile balls into the batter and deep fry at 350 degrees F until
golden.
Drain on paper towels.
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.
Pueblo Pumpkin Candy
This is an old Pueblo treat.
Traditionally the strips of pumpkin
are soaked in a bath of water and wood ashes to soften.
Today many
Indian cooks substitute baking soda for the ashes.
If you prefer a
less sweet candy, add the lemon juice and thin strips of lemon zest
to the sugar syrup with cilantro.
If you have a sweet tooth, roll
the dried candy in coarse sugar.
1 (2- to 3-pound) pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
Juice and zest of 1 small lemon
3 to 4 sprigs fresh cilantro (optional)
Peel and seed pumpkin and cut it into 2 x 4-inch strips.
Stir
baking soda into enough water to cover strips.
Add pumpkin strips
and let stand 12 hours.
Drain and rinse pumpkin in running water.
Drop strips into a pot
of boiling water and cook until tender but not soft.
Remove pumpkin
strips, crisp in ice cold water, and drain.
Combine sugar with 1/2 cup water, lemon juice and zest, and
cilantro in a saucepan.
Heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved,
then boil slowly without stirring for 10 minutes.
Add pumpkin
strips, cover the pot, and simmer for about 20 minutes until syrup
is thick and strips are brittle.
Spread candy out on a rack or on a
wax paper-covered tray to dry for at least 10 hours.
Roll in additional sugar if desired and store in an airtight
container.
Makes about 1 pound.