Three Sisters Soup - a First Nations recipe
Photo credits: https://mcmichael.com/collection/first-nations/
by Carli Jacobsen
Three Sisters Soup (bannock beans, corn and squash) are the ‘three sisters’ in traditional ecological knowledge, originating from First Nations Peoples in the United States and Canada. The Three Sisters are usually planted together because they each aid the growth of the other. They collectively contribute to a balanced meal with different textures are flavours deriving from each ingredient. Bannock, also called fry bread, is another traditional cuisine used in savoury and sweet ways. Bannock pairs well as bread to eat with the soup, but also can made into ice cream sandwiches, or eaten plainly with tea. They can be frozen or re-baked for later use. Both these recipes are inspired by traditional recipes I found online by First Nation chefs but have been slightly altered to suit the produce available in London supermarkets. They are vegetarian but can easily be made vegan with plant based duplicates.
Three Sisters Soup (Serves 5):
Half of a butternut squash
1 large can of corn
1 can of butter beans
A generous dash of curry powder
A few curry leaves to your taste
Red pepper and salt to season
1 Vegetable broth
1/2 a white onion
4 garlic cloves
50g of butter.
Olive oil
Runny yogurt and fresh coriander/cilantro to garnish (optional)
Method:
Roast the squash and the garlic coated in olive oil for roughly 2 hours until both are soft enough to mash with a fork.
for the last 30 minutes of these in the oven, add the sweetcorn. Spread the corn out on a pan and roast in olive oil, S&P. The corn should be slightly browned/crispy.
thinly chop the white onion, and caramalise in the butter with the salt, red pepper and curry powder.
Once caramalised, add the stock cube, the butter beans, curry leaves, and slowly add the water bit by bit.
Using either a fork or a blender, puree the garlic cloves and the squash, adding it to the soup to make the broth thick and creamy. If too thick, slowly add more water. Simmer on mid-low-heat for about 10 minutes on a mid-low heat.
Within the last five minutes of simmering, add the roasted corn. This adds a little crunch, so you can individually enjoy the various textures and flavours of the Three Sisters, while being able to see how they compliment each other too!
Season to taste with S&P, and drizzle with yogurt and corriander if you like. Serve with bannock either to dip in the soup or to use for an ice-cream sandiwich dessert (or both!).
Bannock (Makes a dozen depending on preferred size):
(American cooking measurements incoming, apologies!)
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 water. Some recipes use milk.
1/4 melted butter.
If you wish to use the bannock strictly for dessert, you can add caster sugar to your taste.
A vegetable or seed oil of choice (I used sunflower).
Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, and create a cave in the middle, adding all the wet ingredients.
Using a fork, slowly bring the dry ingredients into the wet ones until you get a thick and very stick mixture that represents a thick batter.
In a large skillet, add the oil so that it fully covers the surface of the pan. Heat until hot (be careful)!
Using a spon, add large dollops of the batter to the pan, frying until golden brown on each side. It should be in the pan for about 5 minutes in total!
Allow them to cool on a paper towel to suck up excess oil. Keep adding more oil to constantly layer the pan when frying.
To use as an ice cream sandwich, slice the bannock width-ways to create 2 thin slices, spreading ice cream and fresh fruit in between. Enjoy!