Food of The First Peoples

CHOCTAW RECIPES

Choctaw Possum

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes
Pepper
Salt
1 Opossum


Directions

Live catch a possum and pen him up.

Feed him good clean food (table scraps, dog food, etc.) and give him plenty clean fresh water for two weeks.

Butcher and skin the possum, wash him thoroughly with clean water, soak overnight in a glass bowl or crock in a solution of 1/4 cup salt to a gallon of water.

Remove from solution and drain possum.

Prepare sweet potatoes buy washing thoroughly and trimming bad spots out with a paring knife.

Salt and pepper the possum carcass to taste.

Place sweet potatoes in body cavity, put carcass on a large cookie sheet and surround with remaining sweet potatoes.

Place in oven and bake for 3-4 hours or until sweet potatoes are done. (test with fork for tenderness.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove sweet potatoes from cavity, discard possum carcass and enjoy the sweet potatoes!

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PASHOFA(Stew)

1 lb. of cracked corn (pearl hominy)

1 lb. fresh lean pork (meaty back bone)

2qts. water (add more if needed)

Wash and clean corn. Bring water to boil and add corn. Cook slowly, stirring often. When corn is about half done, add the fresh pork. Cook until the meat and corn are tender and soft. The mixture should be thick and soupy. Cooking time is about four hours. Add no salt while cooking. Each individuals salts to his/her own taste. (If meaty backbone is not available, use fresh chopped pork, small pieces. Pork Chops are good to use.)

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BANAHA

2 cups cornmeal

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 tsp. soda

Corn Shucks (boil about 10 min. before using)

Mix dry ingredients. Add water till mixture is stiff enough to handle easily. Form small oblong balls the size of a tennis ball and wrap in corn shucks. Tie in middle with corn shuck string, or use oblong white rags (8 x 10 inches) cut from an old sheet. They are much better boiled in shucks. Drop covered balls into a deep pot of boiling water. Cover and cook 40 minutes. Serve.

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Choctaw Persimmon Cake
1/2 C. sugar
1 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. soda
1 C. persimmon pulp
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well then pour into a well greased and floured pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. This is good served with a whipped topping

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Indian Fry Bread
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk

Mix flour, salt and baking power together. Add milk or water and stir to make a stiff dough. Turn into well-floured board and pat down to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into squares with a slit down the middle. You can make these any size you want. For Indian Tacos, you get a ball and roll it out to about 7 or 8 inches. It should be big enough to nearly cover a plate. Serve hot with syrup, honey, etc. as a snack.

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Wild onions & Eggs
Wild onions, cut up (whatever amt. you want)
1 c. water
1 c. shortening, melted
6 eggs

Cut up enough wild onions to fill a 6 to 10 inch skillet. Place water, shortening and o­nions in a skillet. Salt to taste and fry until almost all the water is gone (15 to 20 minutes). Break eggs o­n top of the o­nions and stir well. Fry until the eggs are scrambled. Serve hot.

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Smothered Venison
1 lb. venison steak, cut 1/2 inch thick
2 c. plus 3 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. cooking oil
Garlic salt
1 lg. o­nion, sliced
Salt & pepper to taste

Tenderize venison and cut into serving pieces. Dip meat into flour and brown in hot oil in cast iron skillet. Remove meat when browned. Stir 3 tablespoons flour into oil and gradually add 2 cups milk. Cook until thick, then add seasonings and browned steak. Place o­nion slices on top of steak. Gravy should cover steak and onions. Cover and bake at 250 to 300 degrees for 2 hours. 4 servings.

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Poke Salad Greens
Fresh Poke Greens


These are best picked in the spring when the shoots and leaves are young and tender. Cut or tear the leaves into smaller sizes then put into a pot of water and bring to boil. Boil for 5 minutes then drain water off, rinse again then cover with cold water and bring to a boil again. Boil another 5 minutes and repeat the process of draining and rinsing again. The process of parboiling twice is very important for removing any harmful ingredient in the poke. Now, put the poke back into the pot or sauce pan, barely cover with water, add salt to taste, season with salt pork or bacon and simmer until the meat is tender and the water has cooked down. This is very good eaten with pepper sauce, a pot of pinto beans and a pan of cornbread.

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Fresh Pork & Corn Dumplings
3 lbs. fresh pork backbone
1 sm. hot red pepper
1 tsp. sage
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. cornmeal
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Place pork in large kettle, add 2 quarts water, red pepper, sage and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and bring to boil then simmer for approximately 3 hours or until pork is tender. Remove pork from kettle and reserve liquid in kettle, keeping it hot. Brown pork in a 350 degree oven. Combine the cornmeal, flour, remaining slat and baking powder then stir in 1 cup boiling water and 1 cup of reserved liquid. Form into egg-sized dumplings and drop into remaining hot liquid in kettle. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

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Easy Blackberry Cobbler
2 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
1 c. blackberries
2 c. boiling water

Cream 1 cup sugar and butter then add flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Mix well and pour into 12x8x2 inch pan. Pour the blackberries over batter and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Pour the boiling water over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot or cold. May be served with cream.

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Crackling Bread
1 C. cornmeal
1/2 C. flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 C. milk
1 C. cracklings (Crisp pork rinds, cracked)
1 egg

Mix all ingredients. Pour into a greased pan. A heavy cast iron skillet or pan is best for baking cornbread. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

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Indian Jerky
Venison or any other lean meat
Salt & Pepper

Salt and pepper the lean strips of meat thoroughly to discourage insects, then hang over peeled willow poles to dry in the sun. You might build a small chip fire far below the hanging meat and leave it 1 to 2 days. The sun and fire, both, will dry out the strips. the meat will have a slightly Smokey taste. You don't want to cook the meat but to simply dehydrate it thoroughly. This made a good food for traveling.


















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RECIPES FROM THE
WOODLAND CULTURE AREA


ROAST CORN SOUP
('o' nanh-dah) by Miriam Lee

SENECA

12 ears white corn in milky stage
1 lb salt pork (lean and fat)
1 lb pinto or kidney beans

Using low heat, take corn and roast on top of range (using
griddle if your stove is equipped with one) and keep
rotating corn until ears are a golden brown. After the corn
is roasted, take ears and put on foil covered cookie sheet
until cool enough to handle. Scrape each ear once or twice
With a sharp knife. Corn is ready for making soup. While
corn is being roasted, fill kettle (5 qt. capacity)
approximately 3/4 full with hot water and put on to boil
along with salt pork which has been diced in small pieces
for more thorough cooking. Beans should be sorted for
culls, washed twice and parboiled for approximately 35-45
minutes. After parboiling beans, rinse well in tepid water
2 or 3 times. Corn and beans should then be put in kettle
with pork and cooked for about 1 hour. (Note: Beans can
also be soaked overnight to cut cooking time when preparing
soup).

SUCCOTASH SENECA

Ingredients
green corn with kernels removed
fresh shelled beans
enough water to cover
salt and pepper to taste
cubed salt pork

Mix the corn and beans and cover with water. Cook the
mixture over medium heat for about a half hour. (Be sure to
stir the mixture to avoid scorching.) Add pepper and salt
and salt pork if desired.
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Tsalagi Recipes


Bean Balls (Traditional)
Ingredients:
2 cups brown beans
4 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
(soda is used in place of lye water)

Directions:
Boil beans in salted water until tender. Put cornmeal, flour and soda in large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add boiled beans and some of the juice to the cornmeal/flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Roll in balls and drop into pot of boiling hot water. Let cook for 30 minutes at a slow boil.



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Bean Bread (tu-ya ga-du) (Contemporary)

Cook about 2 quarts of brown beans until thick and soupy, add salt to your taste Add 1/4 cup of oil or two tablespoons of pure grease.

When beans are done and still boiling, place in a bowl 4-8 cups of yellow corn meal and 1/2 cup of oil, stir this until well incorporated, pour the boiling beans into the corn meal about 4-6 cups
or more. Pour into a well oiled pan and bake in 350 degree oven. When it is done, cut into squares and enjoy.



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Cormeal Cookies (Se-lu I-sa U-ga-na-s-da)

Cream together:
3/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar

Add the following ingredients until smooth:
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Add and mix well:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powered
1/4 tsp. salt

Optional:
1/2 cup raisins

Drop dough from tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes until lightly browned. Makes
about 1 1/2 dozen.



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Crawfish - (Ge-Dv-Nv) - 1KG
Catch crawfish by baiting them with groundhog meat or buttermilk. Pinch off tails and legs to use. Parboil, remove hulls and fry the little meat that is left. When crisp, it is ready to eat. Crawfish can also be used in a soup or stew after it is fried.



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Cabbage - (U-S-Ge-Wi) - QC1+

Directions: Wilt cabbage in a small amount of grease (go-i). Add some pieces of green peppers and cook until cabbage turns red. Serve with cornbread (se-lu ga-du).



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Corn and Beans - (Se-Lu A-Su-Yi Tsu-Ya) - 7RaI|

Directions: Skin flour corn with lye and cook. Cook colored beans. Put the cooked corn and beans together and cook some more. Add pumpkin if you like, cooking until pumpkin is done.

Add to this a mixture of cornmeal, beaten walnuts and hickory nuts, and enough molasses to sweeten. Cook this in an iron pot until the meal is done. Eat fresh or just after it begins to sour. This will not keep too long after it begins to sour unless the weather is cold.



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Cornmeal Gravy (selu'si asusdi)

Fry some meat (about 4 pcs.side meat) Have enough grease to cover cornmeal. Add about 1/2 cup of meal (you may wanna salt this a bit, unless you like bland) Brown the meal in grease until light brown. Add 2 1/2 cups of milk, stir and let boil until thick. Serve hot over any kind of bread.



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Cornmeal Mush - (Selu'sa Anista) -

Corn meal
boiling water
(1 part corn meal to 4 parts water)
salt to taste
Put water in saucepan. Cover and let it become boiling hot over the fire; then add a tablespoon of salt. Take off the light scum from the top. Take a handful of the cornmeal with the left hand and a pudding stick in the right (or vise versa if you're a southpaw); then with the stick, stir the water around and by degrees let fall the meal. When one handful is exhausted, refill it; continue to stir and add meal until it is as thick as you can stir easily, or until the stick will stand in it. Stir it awhile longer. Let the fire be gentle.
When it is sufficiently cooked which will be in half an hour, it will bubble or buff up. Turn it into a deep basin. Good eaten cold or hot, with milk or butter and syrup or sugar, or with meat and gravy or it may be sliced when cold and fried.



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Dried Apples - (Unikaya) -

Peel and quarter ripe apples, or slice and dry in the sun. Cook the dried apples until done. If the cooked apple needs to be thickened, add cornmeal and cook until meal is done.



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Dried Corn Soup

Ingredients:
1 ear dried blue and white or other corn,
removed from the cob
7 cups water (ama)
1 (2"x1") strip fat back, sliced
5 oz. dried beef
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper (do qua yo di)

Directions:
1. Soak the corn in 2 cups water for 48 hours.
2. Place the corn and its soaking water in a large saucepan. Add the remaining water and the fat back, and simmer, covered, for about 3 hours and 50 minutes or until the corn is tender but not soft. 3. Mix in the dried beef and pepper, and simmer, stir for 10 minutes more.



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Fried Squash Bread
1 cup Corn meal
2 Summer squash -- diced
1 Egg
Water
1/4 cup Buttermilk

Cook squash in water until soft; leave 3/4 c. water in pot. Combine other ingredients with squash and water; mix together. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.



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Ga-Na-S-Da-Tsi (Sassafras Tea)

Ingredients
Red Sassafras roots
Water

Directions: To make a tea, boil a few pieces of the root in water until
it is the desired strength. Sweeten with honey if desired. Serve hot or
cold.

Note: Gather and wash the roots of the red sassafras. Do this in the spring
before the sap begins to rise. Store for future use. Some natural food stores
carry sassafrass root in a dried form. It will resemble wood chips (the kind
used when barbequeing). The "store bought" variety work just as well.
Sassafras tea tastes like watered down rootbeer and is really very good.



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Ganuge -

Directions: Crack thin shelled hickory nuts. Beat hull and all in the corn beater until it can be rolled into a ball. Make whatever size balls are convenient to use. Pour boiling water over this to make a thick gruel. Pour the gruel over corn and beans that have been cooked separately, then mixed together.



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Greens Salad - (Guhitligi) -

Ingredients:

Sweet grass (Oo-Ga-Na-S-Di)
Old Field Creases (Oo-Li-Si)
Ramps (Wa-S-Di)
Angelica (Wa-Ne-Gi-Duhn)
Poke (Tla-Ye-De)

Directions: Parboil, salt, then cooked some more with grease (go-i). Serve hot.



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Grape Dumplings

Boil 1 gallon possum grapes, using just enough water to cover. Strain through a clean sack (or you can cheat and just use Welch's grape juice) *smile*

Knead plain flour and some grape juice as you would when making bread dough. (About 1 cup of juice to 5 cups of flour.) Roll this out on a floured dough board very thin and cut into strips and drop the dough strips into the boiling grape juice. You may put in 1/2 cup of sugar to sweeten.



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Gv-nv-s-dv-tli (spicewood tea)

Ingredients:
Small twigs of Spicewood

Directions
Boil twigs in water and serve hot. Sweeten if desired. Molasses or honey makes the best sweetening. Gather spicewood twigs in the spring when the buds first appear.



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Gv-no-he-nv - (Hominy Corn Drink)

Ingredients:
Corn, field dried or parched
Wood ash lye
Water

Directions
Shell the corn (if still on the cob), and soak the kernels in wood ash lye until the skin can be removed (slipped).Remove from the lye and rinse with clear water. Drain.
Beat the corn in the corn beater (ko-no-na) until it is the size of hominy. Sift the meal from the larger corn particles. Cook the larger particles in water until they are done. Thicken with a little meal. Drink this hot or wait until it sours and drink it cold.The drink may be kept for quite a while unless the weather is very hot.This was a customary drink to serve to friends who dropped by for a visit.




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Huckleberry Bread (gadu guwa)
2 cups self rising flour
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup milk
1 tea. vanilla
2 cups berries (Huckleberry or blueberry)

Cream eggs, butter and sugar. Add flour, milk and vanilla. Sprinkle flour on berries to prevent them from going to the bottom. Add berries. Bake at 350
for 40 minutes.



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Leather Breeches - (Anikayosvhi Tsuya)
Ingredients
1 pound fresh green beans, washed
2 quarts water
1/4 pound salt pork, diced
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
heavy thread
darning needle

Directions: Snap the ends off the beans and string on heavy thread with needle. Hang in a sunny place to dry for about 2 months.

To cook: Soak beans for 1 hour in the two quarts of water. Add the salt pork, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer slowly, for 3 hours. Add more water if needed.



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Potato Soup - (Nu-nv Oo-ga-ma) -

Directions:

Peel white potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Boil in water with an onion or two until potatoes and onions mash easily. After mashing, add some fresh milk and reheat the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste, if desired.



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Ramps - (Wa-s-di) -

Directions: Gather young ramps soon after they come up. Parboil them, wash and fry in a little grease (go-i). Meal may be added if you wish. They may be cooked without being parboiled, or even eaten raw (if the eater is not social minded! *smile*)



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Red Sumach Drink - (Qua-lo-ga) -

Shell berries off and gently rub between the palms of your hands, being careful not to crush the berries but only the spines, drop into water, strain, sweeten to taste and chill.



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Cherokee Succotash - (Iyatsuyadisuyi Selu) -

Directions: Shell some corn and skin it with wood ashes lye. Cook corn and beans separately, then together. If desired, you may put pieces of pumpkin in. Be sure to put the pumpkin in early enough to get done before the pot is removed from the fire.



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Swamp Potatoes - (Tlawatsuhi'anehi Nunv) -

Directions: Gather and wash swamp potatoes. Bake in oven or in ashes until they are done. Beat the cooked potatoes in the corn beater until they are like any other meal. Use as meal is used.

(During winter famines, many Cherokees had no other meal except that made from the swamp potatoes.)



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Sweet Corn Mixture - (Sedi Tsuya Selu) -

Directions: Skin flour corn by putting it in lye. Cook the corn until it is done. Add beans and continue cooking until the beans are done. Add pumpkin and cook until it is done, then add walnut (se di) meal and a little corn meal. Add a little sugar or molasses if you'd like. Cook until the corn meal is done.



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Oo-ni-na-su-ga Oo-ga-ma (Possum Grape Drink)
Ingredients:
Possum grapes, dried *
Water
Corn meal

* Directions: Gather ripe possum grapes - the kind that are still sour after they ripen when the frost has fallen on them. Hang up for winter use.

To prepare: Shell off the grapes from the stems, wash, and stew them in water. When they are done, mash in the water they were cooked in. Let this sit until the seed settle, then strain, reserving liquid. Put the juice back on the fire and and bring to a boil. Add a little cornmeal to thicken the juice. Continue cooking until the meal is done. Remove from the fire and drink hot or cold. Sweeten, if desired.



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Uwaga (Oo-Wa-Ga - Old Field Apricot Drink)

Gather old field apricots
(field apricots are the fruit of the passion flower)

Directions:
Hull out the seed and pulp, and put on to boil, discarding skins. Add a tiny bit of soda to make the seeds separate from the pulp. Squash out the pulp, straining the mixture through a cloth. Drink hot.



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Wanegidv (Wah-neh-gee-Duh) -

Directions: Pick when tender, parboil, fry, and serve with eggs and bread or just bread.

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