When the idea of trying to cook Native American food came up, at first it sounded lunatic. Is there enough Native American cuisine to make? Would it be any good?
The answers seem to be yes and yes, although we cooked it around Thanksgiving so I hadn't time to try out more than a few dishes. Of course, figuring out what could be an "authentic" Native American recipe is difficult. After all, moden Native American recipes are often shadows of European recipes, since European cooking methods assuredly have been adopted with time, along with many European ingredients.
But then again, in this age the chilli pepper, discovered in use by the Aztecs, has spread across the globe as far as Korea, would it not be fair to assume Indian culinary tradition should have adopted from its contact with Europe?
Still, some recipes were so far European in origin as not to seem worth trying, but that didn't leave me with too few. I aimed for a few that used very American ingredients in ways we rarely do.
Firstly, there's Sunflower Bannock. Now, What is
a "Bannock" you might ask. Well, it's an old
English and Scottish term for a round loaf of bread. A piece of a bannock would be a "scone".
Sunflower Bannock
Prep Time: Negligible
Cooing Time: 2 hours
Serves: 5-6
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3 1/4 cup water
2 1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp corn flour
2/3 cup oil
Cooking:
In a large pot, put the water, sunflower seeds, and salt and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
Make a paste by crushing the seeds (or putting them through a food processor). Add the corn flour slowly, thickening the paste.
Cool a little, and make into small flat pancakes with your hands, and then fry in oil, until both sides are brown.
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