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Nathan’s class is learning about the Native Americans and has to do a report on their favorite American Indian tribe. Nathan liked the North Eastern tribes, so we chose to study the Iroquois, a group of six tribes located in New York State, Ontario, Canada, and Wisconsin.

Research and books

The Internet is full of junk when it comes to Native American topics. Since the Wikipedia section on the Iroquois is locked for “vandalism,” I questioned the information there. Luckily, our local library has a healthy selection of books on Native American culture just for children. We checked out:

• The Iroquois (Native American Histories) by Charlotte Wilcox for children ages nine to 12. Nathan’s currently reading this during his 15-minutes mandatory reading homework time. And he’s using a feather as a book mark, go figure.
• The Iroquois And Their History (We the People) by Genevieve St. Lawrence. Another book for kids who are reading at a third to sixth grade level.

The report assignment

As part of their project they have to do an oral report and artwork or a craft of some kind. My husband had the brilliant idea that Nathan make some Native American food to serve his class. I liked this idea because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn’t have to store a diorama after the project was over. I thought that Nathan’s classmates would enjoy eating Native American food, too.

I checked out another children’s book, Native North American Foods and Recipes by Bobbie Kalman. Since this book had more facts than recipes I also reserved two adult Native American cookbooks:

• Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This book is in traditional cookbook format with chapters broken up into appetizers, soups, meats, birds, game, breads, desserts and beverages.
• Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook is divided into geographic regions, so we found this more helpful for the project. Nathan and I decided to make maple syrup candy and Algonquian Maple Popcorn Balls. Yes, the Algonquians are not part of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, all Northeastern Indians had access to corn and maple syrup, so I think we can fudge it. I’m sure all native Northeastern peoples did some sort of popcorn and maple dish.

Spirit of the Harvest

Many of the recipes in this cookbook, including ones for pumpkin soup, Indian pudding, and cranberry pudding, looked so good that I will be ordering Spirit of the Harvest so I can make them for Thanksgiving. But why wait? I was intrigued by the cover dish of Hidasta Stuffed Sugar Pumpkins. (The Hidasta are Plains Indians in North Dakota and trade with their Minnesotan Chippewa – or Ojibway - neighbors for wild rice.)

I have a freezer full of ground venison and wild rice in the cupboard, and since pumpkins are in season now we started our Native American cooking project a little early.

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Ingredients:

1. 1 sugar pumpkin (also called a pie pumpkin) 4-5 pounds – do not use a regular pumpkin! Sugar/pie pumpkins are sweeter and less stringy than regular ones
2. 1 medium onion, chopped
3. 2 teaspoon salt
4. 1 cup cooked wild rice (you can substitute brown rice if you wish)
5. 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
6. 3 eggs, beaten (I used six egg whites instead to lower the fat content)
7. 2 teaspoons olive oil
8. 1 teaspoon crushed, dried sage (I used 1 Tablespoon fresh sage from our garden.)
9. 1 lb ground buffalo, venison, or beef (I used ground venison. You could try ground turkey or meat substitute, too.)
10. 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the wild rice per the instructions on the package. This can take up to an hour. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while it’s cooking.
2. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. when the rice is nearly done.
3. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Put top aside. Reserve the seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Remove from the stove top and stir in cooked wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper.
5. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture and cover with the lid to keep the rice moist.
6. Place 1/2″ water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as necessary to avoid sticking.
7. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing.

Notes

• My daughter seems to be growing out of her egg allergy. Still we’re cautious. I had read that kids are more likely to be allergic to egg yolks, so I’ve been using egg whites only. Plus, it lowers the fat. Remember, two egg whites equals one whole egg.
• I mistakenly put all the salt in the pumpkin, so I didn’t add more to the meat. Unfortunately, when you bit into a spoonful of pumpkin, it was too salty. However, when I mixed up the pumpkin and meat, it was fine.
• The original recipe didn’t say to put the pumpkin lids back on top. So I put them on the side. Since the rice got dried out and crunchy, so I’m recommending that you gently place the lid back on and let it sit on top of the meat mixture. It should keep things moister.
• I was surprised that the kids didn’t care for this dish though my husband and I loved it. The kids didn’t like the wild rice in the meat, so that’s why I’m recommending you use brown rice instead. It’s a possibility that they didn’t care for the sage, so I’m wondering if using basil, parsley, and oregano may be more to their liking. That’s what they’re used to in meatballs and meatloaf. However, they did like the roasted pumpkin, go figure.

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