Since I am interested in the cultural cuisines of the Southwest, it's no wonder that I own cookbooks on Southwestern, Mexican and Native American recipes. In fact, I just purchased four new cookbooks; one on Arizona, two on Native American, one on Utah Pioneers; my friend Amy also gave me a cookbook on Utah, so five total new books!
Not going for those pancakes at that overly pretentious restaurant, so the only other course was to get out the Native cookbooks and make my own from scratch. Blue corn, now this is
something I’ve not seen before. Oh yes,
in the fall putting up dried cornstalks and ears of multicolored Indian corn
was a tradition, but blue corn? Thumbing
through my cookbooks, not only did I find several recipes, but
knowledge on the grinding process itself.
No, this isn’t something I’m going to try; that’s what Blue Mountain
Meats here in Monticello is for, to provide me with my needs, like blue corn
flour. Doesn’t mean I won’t be sharing
the information with you though. 
The first book I used for
my experimenting was “Hopi Cookery” by Juanita Tiger Kavena; “Blue Cornmeal
Hotcakes”, page 19. She explains there
are two methods of drying corn in the Hopi culture; one is simply stacking the
ears on shelves, in a dry area, occasionally turning them until all the moisture
is drawn out from the kernels. The
kernels are removed and processed using traditional grinding stones. The second method is to bake the corn on the
cobs in a mud enclosed ground oven which keeps the steam inside, producing
sweeter corn. The steamed cobs are hung
to dry; the kernels eventually ground whether as flour, or coarser texture for
various recipes.
Blue Cornmeal Hotcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup blue cornmeal
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted shortening
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk (or ¼ cup powdered plus 1+1/4 cups water)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted shortening
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk (or ¼ cup powdered plus 1+1/4 cups water)
Preparation:
In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (including powdered milk if using it); stir.
Add shortening, eggs (water if using); mix well.
Drop by spoonful on lightly greased griddle; turning once as cakes brown.
Makes 12 three inch pancakes.
The batter is thin and runny, much like a crepe batter; I was worried I’d not followed the directions or ingredient amounts correctly. However, my husband and I devoured these pancakes; thin, light, crispy edges with a slight chewiness; minimal grainy texture, and they melted in the mouth. The corn flavor was not strong, definitely delicious with the added flavors of butter, maple syrup or wild huckleberry syrup. Oh, these pancakes didn't make us feel blue at all; the opposite, very happy!
Ingredients:
½ cup white enriched flour
1 cup water
1+½ cup canned milk
1 tsp. baking powder
Preparation:
Mix water and milk together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix together but don’t over mix.
Grease a large skillet and
heat. Pour batter on skillet to make a very thin pancake; cook until brown on
both sides.
This batter is thicker
than the Hopi recipe, much like any traditional pancake recipe; the pancakes
were thicker, dense, took longer to brown on both sides. The taste of the white flour was strong and we
simply missed the light flavor of the blue corn. Comparing the two styles, we could definitely
say that the Hopi won this round of the recipe challenge., so will be using that recipe whenever I make blue corn pancakes.
Variety, experimenting with recipes and food items from other cultures; this is what makes cooking an adventure!
Mary Cokenour
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| A look inside. |
The batter is thin and runny, much like a crepe batter; I was worried I’d not followed the directions or ingredient amounts correctly. However, my husband and I devoured these pancakes; thin, light, crispy edges with a slight chewiness; minimal grainy texture, and they melted in the mouth. The corn flavor was not strong, definitely delicious with the added flavors of butter, maple syrup or wild huckleberry syrup. Oh, these pancakes didn't make us feel blue at all; the opposite, very happy!
My next trial recipe came
from “Healthy Traditions: Recipes of Our Ancestors” by Janice Goodwin and Judy
Hall; it included the use of all-purpose white flour and comes from the Navajo
Nation. Now my friend down in Monument
Valley related to me that “ashes” may be mixed in with the blue corn flour and
is related to the time of the “Long Walks”.
Pancake/Griddle Cake
2 ½ cups blue cornmeal
1 tsp. salt½ cup white enriched flour
1 cup water
1+½ cup canned milk
1 tsp. baking powder
Mix the blue cornmeal, salt,
baking powder together in a large bowl.
Mix water and milk together. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix together but don’t over mix.
Grease a large skillet and
heat. Pour batter on skillet to make a very thin pancake; cook until brown on
both sides.
Makes 10 pancakes
This batter is thicker
than the Hopi recipe, much like any traditional pancake recipe; the pancakes
were thicker, dense, took longer to brown on both sides. The taste of the white flour was strong and we
simply missed the light flavor of the blue corn. Comparing the two styles, we could definitely
say that the Hopi won this round of the recipe challenge., so will be using that recipe whenever I make blue corn pancakes. Variety, experimenting with recipes and food items from other cultures; this is what makes cooking an adventure!
Mary Cokenour
