As the weather gets warmer, our hearts crave food medicine.
Here are four recipes to nourish your soul!
recipes from Nicole lefthand
Blue Corn Green Chile Chicken Tamales
5 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
4 cups blue corn meal
8 ounces lard
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
4 cups chicken broth
8 ounces extra hot green chile
2 dozen corn husks
Spices such as cumin, white pepper, black pepper, salt, chipotle powder, oregano, cilantro, garlic, onion, or whatever you want to add to your green chile sauce.
Start in the afternoon by putting the chicken thighs in a slow cooker. Fill water almost to the top & add more as needed to maintain level. Cook for 6 hours or until the thighs are cooked to the bone when cut into. Remove chicken to cool. Save juice and refrigerate.
Debone thighs and remove fat and skin. Save bones and fat to make bone broth and lard later. Strip chicken with two forks or hands.
The juice in the fridge should have cooled. Remove the layer of hard white fat on top and set aside for later. Underneath should look like jelly. Reheat on low until liquid again and strain it. This will be the broth for your masa and green chile sauce. You can do the same with the hard white fat separately to use as lard.
Take green chile, 2 cups of broth, and whatever spices you want. I like to sauté the green chile with onion and garlic. Put in a blender or food processor with spices that you want and blend until smooth. Strain to remove seeds if necessary. Add sauce to the stripped chicken and refrigerate overnight. There should be enough sauce to make the chicken mix juicy and moist. If not, add more broth.
Mix dry ingredients of masa. Add in hard white fat from chicken. If it is not 8 ounces, other lard may be substituted. I try to avoid lard from hydrogenated oil - such as Snowcap Manteca or Crisco - and prefer to render my own lard from animal fat. Integrate with hands or an electric hand mixer until all lard chunks are gone and masa is a little fluffy. Slowly add in 2 cups of broth and mix with hands. If there isn't enough broth, water can be substituted. Mix until the dough is a cohesive lump. It is ready when you slap the masa and it doesn't stick to your hand. Add a little more blue corn meal if it's too sticky or a little more water if it seems too dry. Cover and stick in the fridge. Place corn husks in water to soak overnight.
In the morning, take out husks, masa, and chicken. Lay a husk flat with the smooth side up. Each husk has a smooth side and a rough side. You can run your nail across the ridges and tell by the sound which side is rough. Get a handful of masa a little bigger than a golf ball. Put it in the middle of the husk and spread it with your hands until it is 1 inch from the edges and about 1/2 inch thick. Use a big spoon to put about 2 tablespoons of the stripped chicken in the middle. Make sure there's green chile juice in the portion. Now there's two ways to fold it up. You can just fold the left and right side over the middle (roughly in thirds) and fold the tail up. Or, you can fold the husk in half taco-style and press the edges of the masa together around the chicken. Then, pull the husk away and fold into thirds and the tail up like normal. You can roll the tamale on your work surface to make it more tubular.
Next, fill the steam pot with water on the bottom. Line the bottom of the steam insert with loose corn husks. If there are not enough tamales so that they all stand upright, an upside-down bowl may be placed in the middle and the tamales leaned around it. Loose corn husks may also be stuffed between tamales to hold them upright. Cover and steam for 1 and 1/2 hours. Check tamales to see if the masa has pulled away from husk which indicates it's done cooking. Let tamales sit and set for 30 minutes before eating.
White Corn Chiłchin Sweet Tamales
4 cups white corn meal
8 ounces lard
1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
2 cups water
2 ounces Chiłchin (sumac berry or ground sumac)
8 ounces Neshjizhii, cooked (dried steamed corn or Chicos at a mexican supermarket)
8 ounces piñon
12 ounces blueberries
2 dozen corn husks
Start by putting Neshjizhii in pot and boiling until soft and ready to eat. Deshell piñons during this time using a rolling pin. Rinse blueberries. Put corn husks in water to soak. Simmer sumac berry in water for about 20 minutes until water becomes red. Leave covered for another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix white corn meal, baking powder, and lard until smooth and there's no lard chunks. Now would be the time to add sugar or sweetener if you'd like. Chiłchin is tart like lemon on its own. Strain the sumac berry juice and slowly add 2 cups into the masa mix until dough is a cohesive ball and doesn't stick to hands when patted. Add a little more corn meal if it is sticky or a little water if it's dry or cracked.
Mix the Neshjizhii, piñon, and blueberries together. This would be another time to add sugar or honey or agave nectar if you want. Lay out husks, masa, and filling. Lay husk smooth side up. Get a handful of masa a little bigger than a golf ball. Put it in the middle of the husk and spread it with your hands until it is 1 inch from the edges and about 1/2 inch thick. Use a big spoon to put about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle. Fold the husk in half taco-style and press the edges of the masa together around the filling. Then, pull the husk away and fold into thirds and the tail up like normal. You can roll the tamale on your work surface to make it more tubular.
Put in a steamer pot and steam for about 1 1/2 hour or until the masa pulls away from the husk. Let sit for 30 minutes to set before demolishing.
Fried Rice
This is so easy to make and so satisfying. First, use leftover rice or rice that has been boiled ahead of time. I usually make rice in the morning to fry in the evening. Freshly boiled rice is too moist and sticky when fried.
2 cups jasmine rice
2 cloves of garlic
1 scallion or 1/2 large onion (any kind), chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup frozen peas & carrots
4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Pinch salt
Pinch white pepper*
Pinch black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil*
*don't worry if you don't have this. It adds a nice flavor but the rice still tastes amazing without it
Get a big frying pan & put 1 tablespoon oil in it and heat it up. When the pan is hot enough that the oil is loose, move the pan around to coat the whole surface. Put about half of rice in and spread it out so it's a sheet across the pan. Use the end of the spatula to break up rice as it cooks and move it around and flip it for 5-7 minutes. It will look a little yellow when it's ready. You can also taste a little to get an idea of the texture.
Take rice out of the pan. Add another tablespoon of oil and allow it to get loose and spread around the pan. Add the second half of rice and fry the same as before. When done, add all of the rice back in the frying pan. Push the rice to sides to form a clear circle in the middle of the pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil and fry the onion and garlic until the onion is soft and translucent. Toss and combine with rice. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, and sesame oil and toss to combine. Push all of the rice to the edges of the pan again. Put another tablespoon of oil in the middle and crack the egg in. Use spatula to scramble. Break the scrambled egg up small and combine with rice. Add in frozen peas and carrots and continue tossing and frying rice until peas and carrots are cooked.
I'm estimating the measurements for this recipe because I tend to eyeball everything. I put enough rice and water in a big saucepan to cook what would fill the pan to the top when finished. I pour about a half-dollar size amount of oil in the frying pan for each "tablespoon.” I pour a two count of soy sauce in, use a two finger pinch of salt, and a one finger pinch of white pepper. I add 2 grinds of black peppercorn. I pour a one count of the sesame oil. I use about a handful of peas and carrots. This recipe is more about technique than specific measurements and I often go on what "looks right" and try to be sparing with the flavors I add because the smell and taste of the rice itself is what really matters.
Navajo and Mint Tea Popsicle
For those unexpected warm days!
2 bundles Dééh (Cota) tea plant (or other tea)
2 teabags mint tea
4 cups water
Honey or agave nectar or sugar to taste (optional)
Simmer tea for about 15 minutes. Remove tea plant and strain if necessary. Add sweetener if desired. After tea has cooled, pour into popsicle mold or freezable cups (small waxed paper cups are great and can be torn away as you eat the popsicle). Stick in the freezer and enjoy later! This recipe can be customized, of course. The proportions listed here would make a strong tea. Black or chamomile tea would be a good substitute for the Cota.
Lastly, a note on ingredients. I mentioned avoiding hydrogenated oils by rendering lard from the fat of chicken used. Bone broth can also be made from the bones. The goal is to use all parts of the animal out of respect for the fact that its life was sacrificed to provide human nutrition. The use of sugar in some recipes is optional because it may not be appropriate for everyone's diet. Agave nectar (which has a low glycemic index) and plant-based sweeteners such as stevia or monkfish are also an option. As for oil, sunflower or peanut oil are options for high heat cooking and are great for fried rice. Olive oil has a lower smoke point so it's not best for high heat cooking. Of course, use what you have. These recipes can be tailored to what is already in your home or to health and dietary needs.
My hope is to share food medicine that feels good, tastes good, smells good, and does good for your body! Ahéheeʼ!
