Three Sisters Stew
Story: Traditional Iroquoi Nation
Recipe: Sidonie Maroon, Cooking with the Co-op Instructor, A Bluedot Kitchen
Once there were three sisters who lived together in a field. The sisters were quite different from each other. The plump little sister wore orange dresses, and was baby enough that she just crawled. The middle sister wore jewelry of dangling pods. The eldest always stood tall above the others guarding over them. She wore a green shawl, and had yellow hair that danced. The only way that the three sisters were alike was that they loved each other dearly and were never without each other….
http://iroquoiswhitecorn.org/learn/legend-of-the-three-sisters
Ingredients
makes 3 quarts stew
3 cups about 1½ lbs winter squash peeled and cut into a 1 inch dice
1 ½ cup dry kidney beans soaked overnight to make 3 cups cooked
2 cups drained and rinsed hominy
2 large onions cut into a medium dice
3 anaheim chilies cut into a fine dice
2 heads garlic peeled and sliced thinly
2 quarts stock made from the vegetable scraps for the stew
1 tablespoon toasted and ground cumin seed
1 tablespoon toasted and ground coriander seed
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 limes plus zest
fresh cilantro chopped for garnish
oil or fat for sauteing
Instructions
Soak kidney beans overnight.
Cut up all vegetables and use all of the scraps to start a quick broth.
Cook broth for ½ hr or more and strain.
In a saute pan make a sofrito (saute) from the onions and chilies cook until sweet about 15 min.
Add toasted and ground spices and garlic cook until fragrant about
3 minutes, turn off heat and set aside
Add beans to a large pot with enough broth to cover.
Boil for 10 minutes, then add sofrito and salt.
Cook at a simmer until almost done about 45 minutes. Add broth as needed. Add squash and continue to cook until almost fork tender. Add the drained and rinsed hominy and cook another
10 minutes. At this point beans should be melty but not mushy, squash fork tender and a little fall apart, and the hominy hot.
Add lemon juice and lime zest. Taste and correct flavors. Top with cilantro and fresh lime
