CORN MOTHERS RETURN
A continually unfolding journey of mine has been the experience of "being found" and surprised by Corn Mother throughout key moments in my life. This page holds the intention of really listening into the ancestral call of this Madre who is so intimately woven into my body as a daughter of the Sonora Desert. I am being slow-cooked in my relationship with this ancient mother. This is an essay I had the honor of having published in Ofrenda Magazine about these ancestral longings and connections.
In the essay above, I write about reclaiming the embodied wisdom of my great-grandmother Mamina, who taught our family how to cook a corn stew the way the old ones did. Here is the actual recipe not included in the essay above.
Mamina's Recipe for Chicos Cocidos en Agua y Sal
Chicos that have been soaked and ready to boil.
Chicos ready to serve.
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Mamina’s (Herminia Valencia’s) Chicos
Cooked in Water and Salt Soak your chicos in water overnight—the way you would soak beans. Rinse and strain. Add the chicos to a soup pot with enough water to easily cover the chicos—again, the way you would with beans. Add a few teaspoons of salt and boil until the chicos are plump and nearly completely tender. This usually takes anywhere from 2-4 hours. Once the chicos are nearly done, in a separate saucepan, add a tablespoon of fat (lard, olive oil or oil of your choosing) and quickly fry up a heaping tablespoon of red chile powder (or more depending on your preference). Don’t let it burn. Add about 2-3 cups of water to the saucepan and simmer. Add some whole strands of green onion, some fresh cilantro and one garlic clove minced. Simmer and then add to the pot of chicos and let it all come to a boil and simmer until the chicos are fully tender. At the end of cooking, add a tablespoon of vinegar and stir. Serve hot with a side of refried beans. Mamina wrote out her original recipe in longhand and made copies for the family. She wrote it out in Spanish and did not include many of the steps described above because it was understood that we would know to soak and boil the chicos before adding the seasoning. Here is Mamina's original recipe in Spanish.
Chicos Cocidos en Agua y Sal Cuando ya están casi cocidos, se dora el chile colorado en manteca y se le pone agua. Se hierve con unos trozos de cebolla verde, un diente de ajo picado muy fino y unas ramas de cilantro fresco. Esto se agrega a los chicos y se dejan hervir un poco más y se les pone una cucharada grande de vinagre al final. |
Offerings to Corn Mother. (Corn Mother sculpture by Thomas B. Maracle, born 1949 in Ontario, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.)