Native American Parfait
Chef Lois Ellen Frank, of Red Mesa Cuisine, prepares an Indigenous parfait composed of corn pudding and berry compote. The multicolored layers of this delightful dessert resemble a sand painting, forming a beautiful, delicious and nutritious traditional dish to share with loved ones.
The ingredients of this meal are relatively simple to find, with a few exceptions. For example, culinary ash may be challenging to acquire at the grocery store but is pretty simple to make at home. Essentially you will have to burn Juniper branches and sift the ash. Our video here has instructions for how to create this essential component of corn pudding. Cornmeal might be easy to find, though we recommend supporting Tribal enterprises where possible. Chef Lois Ellen Frank uses blue cornmeal from Tamaya (Pueblo of Santa Ana), which you can find available for online purchase here.
For those curious about the stirring sticks Chef Lois Ellen Frank uses in her video, you can learn more about this Diné cooking tool here. The stirring sticks are originally made from díwózhiishjiin, or greasewood, a perennial shrub commonly found in the Southwest. Long, straight branches of this plant are selected to make stirring sticks.
Recipe
Ingredients
For compote
Four to six apples, peeled and diced
1 liter of apple juice
One lb frozen blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and cherries
One container unsweetened applesauce
For corn pudding
3 cups blue corn meal
3 cups white corn meal
2 Tbs culinary ash
Cold water (to watery consistency)
Salt (to taste)
Agave nectar (to taste)
Garnishes
1 cup pine nuts
6 sprigs of fresh mint
Peel and dice apples, setting aside half an apple for garnish. Place these in a stock pot with apple juice. Bring to a boil.
Add frozen berries, apple. Bring to boil again and cook for about 20 minutes.
Make blue corn pudding. In a bowl, mix blue corn meal, one tablespoon of culinary ash, and a dash of salt. Slowly pour in cold water, stirring constantly, until watery consistency is reached. Pour into a pot over low heat. Stir gently and consistently, adding agave to taste. Pudding is done once it has noticeably thickened. Set aside.
Make white corn pudding. Repeat steps above but with white corn meal. Set aside.
Place the pan over high heat. Place pine nuts in the pan, moving consistently until browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
Slice the remaining apple half.
Construct parfaits. In serving glass, layer in compote and puddings in the following order: Blue corn pudding, compote, white corn pudding, compote. Take sprigs of mint and add to the top of parfait, as well as apple half. Sprinkle it with pine nuts and serve.