Friday, December 10, 2010

Succotash- Treasure From the Americas

Succotash served over rice.
I'm a lover of traditional foods from around the world, because they're usually healthy, chemical free, cheap, and made with produce from the same seasons. (No orange nectarine spinach salads, if you catch my drift.)

I'm also a lover of bean dishes and dishes that allow you to stretch your meat. When I discovered succotash, I fell in love.

Succotash is a bean and corn dish borrowed from the Native Americans and generally made with vegetables from the "three sisters crops"- corn, bean, and squash. So long a you use corn and beans in the recipe, the rest is up to you, and it'll still be considered succotash.
I like to use whatever vegetables I have in the house that are getting old, as well as a small amount of chicken chunks. Here's a recipe I devised that tastes phenomenal, but feel free to play around with it and use whatever is in your house.


Succotash Recipe


Ingredients
2-3 cups cooked beans. I prefer navy beans, but any will do.
1-2 cups cooked corn
1-2 squashes cubed, whether zucchini, summer squash, pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash, etc.
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced.
1-2 peppers (optional)
1 onion, minced
1-2 cups chicken, diced. I use chicken gizzards. (You can leave this out to make a vegetarian dish.)
Oil or fat for sauteing
Water to cover
Salt (to taste)
Cumin (to taste)

Instructions
1. Saute onions in oil/fat until golden. Add carrot chunks and cover with water.
2. Boil until the carrots are almost entirely soft.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, minus the salt and cumin, and add enough water to cover.
4. Simmer until everything is soft.
5. Season.
6. Serve either plain or over rice or noodles or potatoes or whatever.
7. Enjoy!

Have you ever made succotash before or had it? What do you put in it?
What is your favorite bean and meat dish?

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