First Nations bean heritage

[dirtsunrain]

I have a new young coworker who is from a First Nation (Ojibway reservation) on the mainland nearby. The island where I live is approximately 50% white, 50% Native persons. I am interested in the Anishinabe culture and she has been very helpful to me.
With 7 First Nations here , there are always pow-wows taking place in the summer. The booths selling food often sell beans and I've been twitching to get my hands on some.

In exchange for me teaching her to make soap, my coworker promised me some beans from her Nokomis (grandmother). I got them today...a pound of Black Turtle beans, a pound of Adzuki, a pound labeled Yellow Eyed Pea and a pound of Romano type. She also gave me a small bag of a lovely blue and black mixed poppy seed. The Romanos are a mix of speckled and solid dark red beans.

The Island is the first place I've ever lived where the season says warm enough to grow dry beans to maturity. It's Dec 1st and I still have flowers blooming in the yard (calendula, my kales, some struggling cosmos, spinach, chard, carrots and dill). There is no real history to these beans other than the are grown here, saved and passed down and are used as a food staple along with local fish. This First Nation leaves the mainland every spring to live on small off shore islands to fish. Their children boat back every day to attend school. In summer the group returns to the mainland to grow crops, forage and hunt.

My friend said she will ask her Nokomis for more info and the variety but its doubtlful that I will find out more. These are simply beans but they are valuable to me because they represent a local way of life that is different than my own.

If anyone would like some, feel free to ask.

[Penny]

Those sound kind of neat....hope she can find out more,

[flowerpower]

That was a nice trade. You can never have too many beans growing.

[paquebot]

Three of those are fairly common if you know where to look for them. Black Turtle is pretty much available anywhere. Adzuki is generally in the Hispanic section. Both available in bulk in several supermarkets in my city. Yellow Eyed are only grown commercially in the SE and only marketed there. I've grown all 3 here in recent years and now working on some pretty crosses within Black Turtle. Don't know why Yellow Eyed isn't more common as it's a great soup bean and very prolific.

Martin

[dirtsunrain]

We cook at work and sometimes Meesh will make something known as an Indian taco. It is her traditional frybread (she calls it scone) topped with a multiple bean chili. I asked her about the beans traditionally used and she said she'd get me some.

My intitial reaction was that these cant be right, since they are beans from far away. But, there is no where around here to buy these beans. No grocery store would carry anything like this. Meesh says they come from bags in her Nokomis's home. I am hopeful to get a white bean that is commonly used in this chili. I often see small bean patches and climbing beans when I travel thru the First Nation communitites. Meesh grew up in the traditional lifestyle of fishing and growing food. She has promised me some 'really big beans' (fava?) from her next visit to her grandmothers home.

When I was teaching Adult Literacy, some of my native students enjoyed my interest in their culture. I was often brought gifts of food to try, like spruce beer (made in a tree stump) and roasted songbirds on a stick.

[paquebot]

The "really big bean" may be what many call a potato bean. After growing them for 3 years, finally had enough extra this year to include it in a soup mix yesterday. Definitely a good one but my short growing season doesn't do much for production.

Martin

[flowerpower]

I'd be happy with the Frybread topped with confectionary sugar. The Spruce beer sounds very cool. How did it taste?

[mnjrutherford]

I like the frybread with honey. I've used it for taco shells as well. Sometimes I use meat with Mexican style seasonings and sometime I do Eastern Europe or Middle Eastern herbs as well. Frybread is very versatile. Not to mention delicious!

[canadamike]

You darn women who think cooking is their queendom... I hate you

Frybread recipe please........and stop teasing me with these fully naked beans and tell me how to dress them... I am a decent man after all ;D

[bunkie]

i'd like the recipe too please...

[dirtsunrain]

Well, I worked with Meesh today and asked her for the recipe. She tried to write it down but she couldn't. She said it was something that she'd have to show me. It's basiclly 4 cups of flour with 4 tablespoons of baking powder, with enough lard and cold water to mix and shape it with. Add sugar and fry in oil. I found a link online that explains it better and has a photo. I work in human social services and every one of my native clients is a fragile diabetic. As a person who is passionate about eating food that has felt the sun on it, seeing what a few generations of being removed from the traditional diet has done to a society is fascinating...and saddening.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9022063

[mnjrutherford]

Google "Navajo fry bread" under videos and you can get some good tutorials. I have a slightly different recipe Dirt, here's mine:

3 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. warm water (tap warm)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl with a fork. Add milk and water and gather to a ball. Cover with a cloth and allow to rest 20 minutes. Turn out and knead to smooth, elastic mass (about 5 minutes) Add a little extra flour as you go to keep from being part of the dough. Portion into 8 balls of at least close to equal size. Cover with cloth and rest another 20 minutes. Heat about an inch of cooking oil (if you can afford it, peanut oil give an awesome flavor). Flatten the ball, one at a time to desired thickness and size. Sometimes I pat them and leave them thick, sometimes I stretch them by hand, and sometimes I roll them like tortillas. Fry in the oil till golden.

This same dough, hand stretched and cut into biscuit sized circles is great for won ton wrappers. I use deeper oil for that and sometimes I fry just the skins and serve them with sweet and sour sauce to dip or I make a meat filling like this:

1/2 lb. ground pork, shrimp, beef, scallops, or combination there of
1/4 c. minced garlic chives
2 T. minced shallot or onion
2 T. Shao Xing or dry sherry wine
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. cornstarch
1 T. toasted sesame oil
1 egg white
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients to a smooth paste. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight. Put about 1/2 t. mixture on a corner of skin, dip a finger in water and moisten skin around filling. Fold over and press skin together. The water helps seal the skin. Deep fry till golden. OR, you can boil them in salted water until they float then put them in broth, won ton soup!

[bunkie]

can they be baked jo, or grilled?

[mnjrutherford]

Yep, sure can Bunkie! I don't think I would try an oven... hmmm... well, if you brushed them with oil (maybe sprinkled them with sesame seeds or coarse salt as well) they would turn out sort of like crackers. That sounds like an experiment. I would "bake" them either on a griddle or in a hot, dry, cast iron skillet. Thanks for perking my brains!