"Cherokee Potato Soup"
(Nu-Nv Oo-Ga-Ma)
In making this recipe, it's important to remember
that the Cherokee harvested a "wild" potato.
This potato was shaped more like a piece of
ginger root than like the potatoes we are
accustomed to today.
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 if desired.
This soup is best when eaten hot.
The Cherokee tell a story about how the
"Little People" gave them the wild potato during
a time of great famine, saving their lives.
One of the 7 Cherokee clans is called the Wild
Potato Clan and, as the legend goes, is descended
from the people who were gifted by the Little
People.
Soups were the mainstay of many American Indian
diets.
It was common to find a pot of soup simmering
on the fire all day long.
"Frybread"
Frybread was developed by Indian women in
response to commodities issued on early
reservations, which included little more than
flour, salt, sugar, coffee, and corn oil.
It does taste quite good, and is very
individual even though almost everybody uses
just about the same proportions of ingredients
because it tastes different according to
how you knead and shape it and what kind
of oil it's fried in.
Beginning as Indian women making the best of
what was often poor-quality issue of rations
in the new prison camps (reservations).
The traditional part--frying in oil--does
predate rations, using bear and deer tallow
to fry cakes made of various seed meals,
but frying in deep oil post-dates iron
frypans obtained in trade goods.
"Frybread"
(Zahsakokwahn)
Staple of Powwows..
Symbol of Intertribal Indian Unity..
This is just one out of hundreds of recipes,
but they are all basically alike. It will
make 8-10 small ones or 5 big flat ones
for Indian tacos..
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
Deep hot fat in frypan or fryer
Directions:
Sift dry ingredients. Lightly stir in milk.
Add more flour as necessary to make a dough you
can handle. Kneed and work the dough on a floured
board with floured hands until smooth.
Pinch off fist-sized limps and shap into a disk..
everyone has their own characteristic shapes.
Shape affects the taste, because of how it fries.
For Indian tacos, the disk must be
rather flat, with a depression..almost a hole..
in the center of both sides.
Make it that way if the fry bread
is going to have some sauce over it.
Smaller, round ones are made to put on a plate.
Fry in fat (about 375°) until golden and
done on both sides, about 5 minutes.
Drain on absorbent paper.
"Indian Tacos"
For powwows and feasts.
Taco sauce is spread over a large flat frybread
topped with shredded lettuce and cheese.
Two versions are given, one made with hamburger,
one with chicken.
Figure ingredient amounts based on how many
you will serve as Indian tacos..
You can serve fry breads by themselves,
with a berry pudding-sauce (wojapi) over it,
or you can serve with a soup or stew.
This amount of taco sauce is about
right for 8-10 flat fry breads,
so multiply everything accordingly.
~Hamburger Version~
Sauce Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
1 large onion minced
2 small cans tomato paste
1 Lg can tomatoes
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
salt, pepper, chile powder to taste
Topping:
1 head iceberg lettuce shredded
1/2 lb cheddar cheese grated coarse
On the side:
bowl of fine-chopped onion
bowl of mild green chile chopped up fine
Directions:
Fry onion and hamburger broken up loose.
Sprinkle some salt and chile powder over it.
Add tomato paste and 4 cans of water and the
canned tomatoes and their juice -- break up
tomatoes and stir it around. Taste for seasoning.
Simmer till meat and onions are done and
sauce is thick, 30 - 40 minutes.
Assembling:
Put the flat fry bread on a plate and
spread sauce over it [don't be stingy].
Put a handful of cheese on it and top with a
handful of shredded lettuce. Add your own
choice of chopped raw onion, chiles,
and maybe some other favorites from bowls.
~Chicken Version~
Make it when you want broth and some
meat for a wild rice soup-stew too.
Roast or stew chickens,
Remove meat from bones.
Boil bones, wings, backs with onions, carrots
to make broth for wild rice soup/stew.
Dice meat from fowl and use in place
of hamburger to make taco sauce.
"Wojapi Pudding"
Ingredients:
4 lbs blueberries OR
strawberries, peaches, or any berries
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
Half a package of cornstarch to thicken
Directions:
Mash the fruit (with peaches it is good to
cook them a little first).
Reserve some of the water to mix up
the cornstarch in.
Put mashed fruit, sugar and water into pan
and bring slowly to boil.
Remove from heat and stir in cornstarch mixture.
Watch for lumps!
Place back on low heat and stir well until
thickened to the consistency of pudding.
~Note~
Can eat this over frybread, ice cream,
or over biscuits... any way ya want! Its good!
Servings: 5-10
