November Cooking Tips
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush declared November as “Native American Heritage Month”, so we are talking about the most indigineous food there is in all of the Americas: Corn. [Maiz]
Last month we talked briefly on the “Maize-terfully Delicious!” corn. This month we’ll explore more uses of corn masa – Nixtamalized corn flour – used to make tortillas, tamales, sopes, peneques, atole, puddin, and other delicious food.
About 5000 years ago, the people in Mexico developed a process to treat corn that would make it nutritious and digestible. This process is called Nixtamalization. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations developed nixtamalization using slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) and lye (potassium hydroxide) to create alkaline solutions. … Maize cooked with lime or other alkali provided bioavailable niacin to Mesoamericans.
What kind of food can you make using Nixtamalization if you don’t have a “tortilleria” near you? We will use a pre-packaged corn flour called Maseca [ brandname] which is not to be confused with cornmeal.
Corn tortilla dough that you can use for many recipes.
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups (231g) masa harina — ¼ teaspoon kosher salt —1 2/3 cups warm water plus more as needed. Recipe from Pati Jinich.
Recipes you can easily make at home once you have made the “Corn Masa” from the recipe above. If you keep Maseca in your pantry, you can make any of them in just minutes. Enjoy!
Pre-packaged products to complement the tortillas, sopes, tamales, atole that you will need .I am recomending pre-packaged products because these are of high quality and will make your cooking easier, faster and enjoyable.
Maseca is great for thickening any sauce, soup, or stew. It adds a better taste than if you use cornstarch, or even flour. You can make dumplings with the dough and cook them in a broth instead of noodles.
I hope you try some of these recipes, I am sure you will enjoy them, and I hope you can send me a picture or feedback on what was your favorite.
