This soft and moist Cherokee bread is
nothing like you've tasted before, and it resembles a dumpling rather
than a common bread. This recipe uses two staple ingredients of Cherokee
cuisine, namely corn and beans. You might find corn flour under the
name masa harina, but pay attention: this is not cornstarch. While the
flour is yellow, the starch is white.
The recipe calls for the use of corn husks. Since finding those may be difficult, you can swap them with aluminum foil strips.
Ingredients for Cherokee Bean Bread:
Corn flour - 3 cups
Lard - 1/2 cup * substitute
Salt - 2 tsp.
Baking powder - 2 tsp.
Brown beans - 1 cup (cooked)
Dried corn husks - 15
*Butter, shortening, coconut oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, ghee, and mashed banana
Method of preparing the Cherokee Bean
Bread:
Cook the beans in salted water and keep 2 cups of the liquid aside.
Place a pot with simmering water on the stove and fit it with a
steamer basket.
Place the corn husks (or foil strips) in a bowl and cover them with
boiling water.
Put a plate on top to keep them from floating.
Combine the corn flour and lard in a large mixing bowl, using your
hands.
Keep working until even. Add salt, baking powder, beans, and the
cooking liquid.Stir until a dough forms.
Working in 1/4 cup scoops, shape the dough into balls and flatten
each slightly into a 1-inch thick oval.
Wrap each oval in a corn
husk/foil strip tightly to cover all sides.
Place the patties into the
steamer basket, folded side down.
Cover the steamer basket tightly. Cook covered for 45 minutes.
Check
the bean bread, if the corn husk pulls away easily, the Cherokee bread
is done.
NOTE- You may use banana leaves cut into strips and steam, like many of our dishes are steamed in India covered in banana leaves !
NOTE- You may use banana leaves cut into strips and steam, like many of our dishes are steamed in India covered in banana leaves !
This reminds me we make a special dish using rice flour cooked along with brown beans, one variety spicy with green chilies, ginger and seasoning, another sweet using jaggery and cooked beans, it is steamed on idli plates.