RECIPES OF OUR ANCESTORS
Blue Corn
There are several colors of corn including red, blue, pink and black
kernels. Some kernels have bands, spots, or stripes on them as
well. Corn is central to the religions of many Indian tribes and is
especially important for Navajos.
Blue corn is most highly favored by the Navajo’s, Hopi’s and the
Indians of the pueblos. The flavor is considered superior to white
and yellow corn. Its nutritional value is also considered to be
greater as well. Navajos feel that blue corn is important in the diets
of pregnant and nursing women from the onset of labor to the end
of lactation.
“Corn is not simply food to the
Indians. To many groups it is the
basis of religion and the symbol of
fertility and beneficence. “Seeds of
Seeds”, “Sacred Mother”, “Blessed
Daughter” and “Giver of Life” are
all appellations by which the sacred
corn food is addressed. Long tales
of how corn came to the Indians
and stories of times when the corn
maidens visited the ancients were
told when the people sat around
the fires at night.”
Helen Walker,
Arikara
Banaha (Corn Shuck Bread)
Ingredients:
2 cups cornmeal 1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups hot water 1 tsp salt
corn shucks (boil 10 minutes before using)
Mix the cornmeal, baking soda and salt. Add water until mixture
is stiff enough to handle easily. Form small oblong balls and wrap
in corn shucks. Tie in the middle with corn shuck string. Drop
covered balls into a deep pot of boiling water. Cover and cook 40
minutes. Remove the shucks before serving.
Servings: 4
Tribe: Choctaw (Oklahoma)
Serving suggestions: Serve with gravy and sausage; butter, honey
or syrup; with cooked greens and other vegetables and meats such
as salt meat, pork chops.
History of recipe: This is traditionally served on special occasions:
church meetings, weddings, funerals, Choctaw festivities.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 252 Total fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 54 g. Saturated fat: 0 g
Protein: 6 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g
Sodium: 564 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Bannock
Ingredients:
2 C. cornmeal ½ C. berries
3/4 C. water 1/4 C. oil for frying
5 T. oil
Blend cornmeal water and 5 T. oil. Add the berries.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Drop the batter by small spoonfuls
into oil. Fry until golden brown and then turn, about 5 minutes per
side. Drain.
Servings: 6
Tribe: Chippewa
Note: traditionally eaten either hot or cold.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 256 Total fat: 13 g
Carbohydrate: 33 g Saturated fat: 2 g
Protein: 3 g Polyunsaturated fat: 7 g
Sodium: 14 mg Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
2 C. water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups cornmeal
½ tsp. salt
Mix juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Put 3 ½ cups water in a
pot and boil. Strain juniper water into a pot. Add 6 cups blue
cornmeal. Knead until dough is soft but firm. Shape into 30 small
patties. Put on hot skillet. Cook until brown on each side.
Mix salt and 2 C. water. Dip the breads in the salt water.
Servings: 30
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note on serving: Commonly served with coffee and mutton stew.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 53 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 48 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Corn Bread (Loaf)
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups cornmeal
Mix 1 cup juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Put 3 ½ cups
water in a pot and boil. Strain juniper water into the boiling water.
Add the blue cornmeal. Remove. Knead until dough is soft but
firm. Shape into 2 or 3 loaves. Bake in hot ashes for 1 hour.
Brush off ashes and serve warm.
Servings: 30 pieces
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 86 Total fat: <1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 10 mg.Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Cornmeal Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups ground blue cornmeal
3 cups water in separate pot
Mix juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water. Boil water in a large pot.
Strain juniper ashes into the water and stir. Add blue cornmeal and
remove from heat. Knead until dough is soft but firm. Shape the
dough into small thumb size balls.
Put 3 cups water in a big pot and boil. Add dough to boiling water
and stir. Dough will make its own gravy. Serve hot.
Servings: 30 dumplings
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per dumpling:
Calories: 101 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 21 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 3 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Blue Corn Mush (Taa’niil, Tanaashgiizh)
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash prepared with 1 cup water
3 cups boiling water
4 cups blue cornmeal
Mix 1 cup juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Strain ashes into
the boiling water and stir. Add 4 cups of blue cornmeal and stir.
Boil for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off heat and stir.
Servings: 16
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: Commonly eaten with fried bread.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 110 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 23 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 12 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Cornmeal Mush/Porridge (Taa’niil)
Ingredients:
4 cups cornmeal 3 cups boiling water
½ cup wheat sprouts 1 cup juniper ash with
1 cup boiling water
Mix cornmeal into 3 cups boiling water. Stir and mix well,
removing all lumps. Add small amounts of wheat sprouts until
sweetened. Add 1 tbsp of juniper ash at a time until mush /
porridge thickens. The mush is then set outside to chill overnight.
The mush is ready when the mush/porridge turns into a frozen
jello- like pudding.
Servings: 15
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: This mush is only made during the winter months when
temperatures are very cold.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 142 Total fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 30 g. Saturated fat: 0 g
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g
Sodium: 4 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Corn Bread or Johnny Cakes
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup water or 1 cup water + ½ cup dry milk
3 tbsp sugar
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup cornmeal
1 egg
1/4 cup melted shortening
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add egg and
cornmeal. Combine water and melted shortening. Pour into flour
mixture and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Do not
beat. Pour into well-greased 8x8x2 inch baking pan. Bake at 425
degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Servings: 9
Tribe: Maliseet
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 175 Total fat: 7 g.
Carbohydrate: 26 g. Saturated fat: 2 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 2 g.
Sodium: 460 mg. Cholesterol: 21 mg
Ground Cake
Ingredients:
50 lb. stone ground yellow cornmeal
50 lb. stone ground whole wheat flour
12 lb. coarsely strong ground sprouted wheat
1 large pail of simmering water
10 lb. brown sugar
5 lb. raisins
1 basketful of corn husks
Mix the cornmeal and wheat flour. Add the water, handfuls at a
time, stirring constantly. Stir the cornmeal mixture with stirring
sticks (‘adistsiin), removing all lumps. Add the sugar sparingly,
until all the cornmeal is used. Add the wheat sprouts and raisins.
Soak the corn husks.
Dig a pit in the ground about 1 yard across and 10 inches deep.
Build a fire in the pit. When the pit is thoroughly heated, remove
the hot coals. Line the pit with several layers of pre-soaked corn
husks. Pour the mush into the layers of corn husks and cover the
mush with the remaining corn husks. Cover with moist dirt and
then cover with the coals. Build a fire over the pit. Keep the fire
going for 8 hours until the cake is cooked.
‘Adistsiin (stirring sticks) is made from sticks of sage or
geasewood tied in the middle. It is used by Navajo women to stir
mush and as a strainer to catch pieces of ashes as the as the water
in which the ash has been soaking is poured into the cornmeal.
Servings: Unable to determine
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per serving: Unable to determine
Nutrients for entire recipe:
Calories: 201,885 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 42,341 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 5644 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 3706 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Kneeldow Bread (Nitsidigo’i)
Ingredients:
12 ears of fresh corn softened corn husks
Scrape the kernels from 12 ears of fresh corn. Grind the kernels on
a metate* into a mush. Make small packages of the mush by
wrapping them in corn husks.
Dig a pit in the ground about one yard across and 10 inches deep.
Build a fire in the pit. When the pit is thoroughly heated, take the
hot coals out and place the packages in the ground and cover with
some fresh leaves and slightly moist dirt, cover with coals. Build a
fire over it and bake at least one hour.
*Metate is a stone with a concave upper surface used as the nether
millstone for grinding grains and especially maize (Indian corn).
Serves: 12
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Use of recipe: After cooking packages are removed from the pit
and served hot with mutton stew, or dried and preserved for the
winter.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 83 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 13 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Navajo Blue Corn Noodles
Ingredients:
6 C. blue corn meal ½ C. juniper ash
4 C. boiling water
Mix juniper ash with boiling water in a large bowl. Add the blue
corn meal, a small amount at a time until a soft dough is formed.
Form dough into small balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Drop
into boiling water. Boil for about 45 minutes.
Servings: 20
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Contributor: Gladys Begay and Marieta Topaha
Use of recipe: Commonly served with roasted or stewed mutton
and outdoor cooked tortillas.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 156 Total fat: 2 g.
Carbohydrate: 30 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 1 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Navajo Cake
Ingredients:
6 C. water
½ C. raisins
4 C. pre-cooked blue cornmeal
½ C. wheat sprouts
2 C. pre-cooked yellow cornmeal
½ C. brown sugar
Add the two cornmeals to the water. Add the raisins, wheat
sprouts and brown sugar. Blend well dissolving all lumps. Pour
into a 9" X 9" baking pan and cover with foil. Bake at 250 degrees
for 4 hours.
Servings: 10
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Notes: Navajo cake is identical to ground cake except for the
method used to bake the cakes.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 380 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 84 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 8 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 13 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Navajo Roasted Corn (Neeshjizhii)
To prepare Navajo roasted corn, one must build a fire in an adobe
oven and keep it going all day. Clean out all the ashes and put in
the ears of corn, including the husk, and keep it going all day.
Clean out all the ashes and put in the ears of corn and ½ bucket of
water. Seal the oven with a rock and mud. Let the corn bake all
night. In the morning, scrape the kernels off the ear and dry in the
sun.
Dried corn can be used in many different dishes once it is prepared.
The most popular dish is hominy stew.
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Sweet Tamales (Nijilo’i)
Ingredients:
25 lbs of white cornmeal
1 cup white sugar
2 cups raisins
1/4 cup ground wheat sprouts
1 basketful of corn husks
l large pot of simmering water
Mix white cornmeal in handfuls into a large pot of simmering
water. Stir the cornmeal with stirring sticks, removing all lumps.
Add the sugar. Add the raisins. Stir. Stir in the wheat sprouts.
In a separate pan soak corn husks in simmering water. Make small
packages of the cornmeal by wrapping them in soaked corn husks
and tie with strips of corn husks. Put the wrapped packages in a
pot and boil for 1 hour, adding water as needed. Cool.
Servings: approximately 300
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: Commonly served with coffee and mutton stew.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 144 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 31 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 2 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Blue Corn
There are several colors of corn including red, blue, pink and black
kernels. Some kernels have bands, spots, or stripes on them as
well. Corn is central to the religions of many Indian tribes and is
especially important for Navajos.
Blue corn is most highly favored by the Navajo’s, Hopi’s and the
Indians of the pueblos. The flavor is considered superior to white
and yellow corn. Its nutritional value is also considered to be
greater as well. Navajos feel that blue corn is important in the diets
of pregnant and nursing women from the onset of labor to the end
of lactation.
“Corn is not simply food to the
Indians. To many groups it is the
basis of religion and the symbol of
fertility and beneficence. “Seeds of
Seeds”, “Sacred Mother”, “Blessed
Daughter” and “Giver of Life” are
all appellations by which the sacred
corn food is addressed. Long tales
of how corn came to the Indians
and stories of times when the corn
maidens visited the ancients were
told when the people sat around
the fires at night.”
Helen Walker,
Arikara
Banaha (Corn Shuck Bread)
Ingredients:
2 cups cornmeal 1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups hot water 1 tsp salt
corn shucks (boil 10 minutes before using)
Mix the cornmeal, baking soda and salt. Add water until mixture
is stiff enough to handle easily. Form small oblong balls and wrap
in corn shucks. Tie in the middle with corn shuck string. Drop
covered balls into a deep pot of boiling water. Cover and cook 40
minutes. Remove the shucks before serving.
Servings: 4
Tribe: Choctaw (Oklahoma)
Serving suggestions: Serve with gravy and sausage; butter, honey
or syrup; with cooked greens and other vegetables and meats such
as salt meat, pork chops.
History of recipe: This is traditionally served on special occasions:
church meetings, weddings, funerals, Choctaw festivities.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 252 Total fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 54 g. Saturated fat: 0 g
Protein: 6 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g
Sodium: 564 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Bannock
Ingredients:
2 C. cornmeal ½ C. berries
3/4 C. water 1/4 C. oil for frying
5 T. oil
Blend cornmeal water and 5 T. oil. Add the berries.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Drop the batter by small spoonfuls
into oil. Fry until golden brown and then turn, about 5 minutes per
side. Drain.
Servings: 6
Tribe: Chippewa
Note: traditionally eaten either hot or cold.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 256 Total fat: 13 g
Carbohydrate: 33 g Saturated fat: 2 g
Protein: 3 g Polyunsaturated fat: 7 g
Sodium: 14 mg Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
2 C. water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups cornmeal
½ tsp. salt
Mix juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Put 3 ½ cups water in a
pot and boil. Strain juniper water into a pot. Add 6 cups blue
cornmeal. Knead until dough is soft but firm. Shape into 30 small
patties. Put on hot skillet. Cook until brown on each side.
Mix salt and 2 C. water. Dip the breads in the salt water.
Servings: 30
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note on serving: Commonly served with coffee and mutton stew.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 53 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 48 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Corn Bread (Loaf)
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups cornmeal
Mix 1 cup juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Put 3 ½ cups
water in a pot and boil. Strain juniper water into the boiling water.
Add the blue cornmeal. Remove. Knead until dough is soft but
firm. Shape into 2 or 3 loaves. Bake in hot ashes for 1 hour.
Brush off ashes and serve warm.
Servings: 30 pieces
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 86 Total fat: <1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 10 mg.Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Blue Cornmeal Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water
3 ½ cups boiling water
6 cups ground blue cornmeal
3 cups water in separate pot
Mix juniper ash and 1 cup boiling water. Boil water in a large pot.
Strain juniper ashes into the water and stir. Add blue cornmeal and
remove from heat. Knead until dough is soft but firm. Shape the
dough into small thumb size balls.
Put 3 cups water in a big pot and boil. Add dough to boiling water
and stir. Dough will make its own gravy. Serve hot.
Servings: 30 dumplings
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per dumpling:
Calories: 101 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 21 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 3 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Blue Corn Mush (Taa’niil, Tanaashgiizh)
Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash prepared with 1 cup water
3 cups boiling water
4 cups blue cornmeal
Mix 1 cup juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Strain ashes into
the boiling water and stir. Add 4 cups of blue cornmeal and stir.
Boil for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off heat and stir.
Servings: 16
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: Commonly eaten with fried bread.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 110 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 23 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 2 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 12 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Cornmeal Mush/Porridge (Taa’niil)
Ingredients:
4 cups cornmeal 3 cups boiling water
½ cup wheat sprouts 1 cup juniper ash with
1 cup boiling water
Mix cornmeal into 3 cups boiling water. Stir and mix well,
removing all lumps. Add small amounts of wheat sprouts until
sweetened. Add 1 tbsp of juniper ash at a time until mush /
porridge thickens. The mush is then set outside to chill overnight.
The mush is ready when the mush/porridge turns into a frozen
jello- like pudding.
Servings: 15
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: This mush is only made during the winter months when
temperatures are very cold.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 142 Total fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 30 g. Saturated fat: 0 g
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g
Sodium: 4 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Corn Bread or Johnny Cakes
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup water or 1 cup water + ½ cup dry milk
3 tbsp sugar
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup cornmeal
1 egg
1/4 cup melted shortening
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add egg and
cornmeal. Combine water and melted shortening. Pour into flour
mixture and stir just enough to moisten dry ingredients. Do not
beat. Pour into well-greased 8x8x2 inch baking pan. Bake at 425
degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Servings: 9
Tribe: Maliseet
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 175 Total fat: 7 g.
Carbohydrate: 26 g. Saturated fat: 2 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 2 g.
Sodium: 460 mg. Cholesterol: 21 mg
Ground Cake
Ingredients:
50 lb. stone ground yellow cornmeal
50 lb. stone ground whole wheat flour
12 lb. coarsely strong ground sprouted wheat
1 large pail of simmering water
10 lb. brown sugar
5 lb. raisins
1 basketful of corn husks
Mix the cornmeal and wheat flour. Add the water, handfuls at a
time, stirring constantly. Stir the cornmeal mixture with stirring
sticks (‘adistsiin), removing all lumps. Add the sugar sparingly,
until all the cornmeal is used. Add the wheat sprouts and raisins.
Soak the corn husks.
Dig a pit in the ground about 1 yard across and 10 inches deep.
Build a fire in the pit. When the pit is thoroughly heated, remove
the hot coals. Line the pit with several layers of pre-soaked corn
husks. Pour the mush into the layers of corn husks and cover the
mush with the remaining corn husks. Cover with moist dirt and
then cover with the coals. Build a fire over the pit. Keep the fire
going for 8 hours until the cake is cooked.
‘Adistsiin (stirring sticks) is made from sticks of sage or
geasewood tied in the middle. It is used by Navajo women to stir
mush and as a strainer to catch pieces of ashes as the as the water
in which the ash has been soaking is poured into the cornmeal.
Servings: Unable to determine
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Nutrients per serving: Unable to determine
Nutrients for entire recipe:
Calories: 201,885 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 42,341 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 5644 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 3706 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Kneeldow Bread (Nitsidigo’i)
Ingredients:
12 ears of fresh corn softened corn husks
Scrape the kernels from 12 ears of fresh corn. Grind the kernels on
a metate* into a mush. Make small packages of the mush by
wrapping them in corn husks.
Dig a pit in the ground about one yard across and 10 inches deep.
Build a fire in the pit. When the pit is thoroughly heated, take the
hot coals out and place the packages in the ground and cover with
some fresh leaves and slightly moist dirt, cover with coals. Build a
fire over it and bake at least one hour.
*Metate is a stone with a concave upper surface used as the nether
millstone for grinding grains and especially maize (Indian corn).
Serves: 12
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Use of recipe: After cooking packages are removed from the pit
and served hot with mutton stew, or dried and preserved for the
winter.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 83 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 19 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 13 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Navajo Blue Corn Noodles
Ingredients:
6 C. blue corn meal ½ C. juniper ash
4 C. boiling water
Mix juniper ash with boiling water in a large bowl. Add the blue
corn meal, a small amount at a time until a soft dough is formed.
Form dough into small balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Drop
into boiling water. Boil for about 45 minutes.
Servings: 20
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Contributor: Gladys Begay and Marieta Topaha
Use of recipe: Commonly served with roasted or stewed mutton
and outdoor cooked tortillas.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 156 Total fat: 2 g.
Carbohydrate: 30 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 1 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
Navajo Cake
Ingredients:
6 C. water
½ C. raisins
4 C. pre-cooked blue cornmeal
½ C. wheat sprouts
2 C. pre-cooked yellow cornmeal
½ C. brown sugar
Add the two cornmeals to the water. Add the raisins, wheat
sprouts and brown sugar. Blend well dissolving all lumps. Pour
into a 9" X 9" baking pan and cover with foil. Bake at 250 degrees
for 4 hours.
Servings: 10
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Notes: Navajo cake is identical to ground cake except for the
method used to bake the cakes.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 380 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 84 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 8 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 13 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg.
Navajo Roasted Corn (Neeshjizhii)
To prepare Navajo roasted corn, one must build a fire in an adobe
oven and keep it going all day. Clean out all the ashes and put in
the ears of corn, including the husk, and keep it going all day.
Clean out all the ashes and put in the ears of corn and ½ bucket of
water. Seal the oven with a rock and mud. Let the corn bake all
night. In the morning, scrape the kernels off the ear and dry in the
sun.
Dried corn can be used in many different dishes once it is prepared.
The most popular dish is hominy stew.
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Sweet Tamales (Nijilo’i)
Ingredients:
25 lbs of white cornmeal
1 cup white sugar
2 cups raisins
1/4 cup ground wheat sprouts
1 basketful of corn husks
l large pot of simmering water
Mix white cornmeal in handfuls into a large pot of simmering
water. Stir the cornmeal with stirring sticks, removing all lumps.
Add the sugar. Add the raisins. Stir. Stir in the wheat sprouts.
In a separate pan soak corn husks in simmering water. Make small
packages of the cornmeal by wrapping them in soaked corn husks
and tie with strips of corn husks. Put the wrapped packages in a
pot and boil for 1 hour, adding water as needed. Cool.
Servings: approximately 300
Tribe: The Navajo Nation
Note: Commonly served with coffee and mutton stew.
Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 144 Total fat: 1 g.
Carbohydrate: 31 g. Saturated fat: 0 g.
Protein: 3 g. Polyunsaturated fat: 0 g.
Sodium: 2 mg. Cholesterol: 0 mg
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