I love it.
It is written by Sean Sherman, who is Oglala Sioux and a chef. He is part of the back to the land Indigenous movement. Bringing traditional recipes back using traditional ingredients and cooking techniques.
This is going to be a picture heavy post, just FYI. I found it easier to take pictures of each step over just writing out the way I did it.
So this is what I made, and the book I made it from! In reality the whole meal was a compilation of three different recipes, all from the same book. There were suggestions for other toppings, but I was pretty sure just making these three would be ambitious enough for me!
So first thing first was to get the fruit going for the wojape. Now, it's March here, and fresh fruit just isn't a thing. So I used frozen fruit. And I honestly think this affected my end result. I remember eating this as a kid and it tasted so much better! But it was still good.
Berries frozen in the pan. Then those same berries with a bit of water to keep them from burning while cooking.
So the wojape was on and now it was time to get the polenta going for the corn cakes. Polenta takes about 30 minutes. And I don't use any fancy expensive polenta mix. I use good old fashioned corn meal. Yellow cornmeal. Because it's what I have on hand pretty regularly.
A cup of yellow corn meal to 3 cups of boiling water. It's a very simple recipe. I like simple.
Then I just let the polenta do it's cooking!
Wojape and polenta cooking away. Both on a low heat, both being stirred regularly.
So I let the polenta do it's thing for 30 minutes, stirring about every 5 just to keep it from burning. After it was done cooking I turned it out on a plate to have it cool down quicker so I could form it into patties for frying!
And as this was cooling I took a peak at the wojape to see how it was doing.
Boiling away in good fashion. It was on pretty low so I didn't expect fast results!
Baby girl got up to help with the next part, then quickly became more interested in a drawer in the kitchen than in the patties we were making!
Corn polenta patties all ready for pan frying.
I don't normally fry these. It is just not how I enjoy them! But the recipe said fry in a safflower oil, which we didn't have so we used canola.
But I didn't fry them until the end. First I made them into patties so they could sit and cool, helping to form a crust on the outside I have found is better for frying with. It helps everything stick together when it goes into the hot oil. And it's easier to flip over!
Next it was time to chop the onions to get browning with the bison meat. Again I used what I had on hand, which was not wild onions, but happy store bought ones.
Wojape check! Boiling down!
Baby girl got in on the meat cooking action. She loves to stir the food on the stove. And it is such an easy job for her to have!
After the meat was browned and all the spices added, it was time to fry up the polenta patties! I had baby girl on another task while I did this. I try to be very hands off and let her help me cook, but I do have my limits. Hot oil that splashes is one of those limits. So I set her to tickling her daddy while I fried and plated!
And baby girl's plate ended up being the prettiest. Though, even that was not picture pretty! Bison meat over polenta patty with a side dipping of wojape.
Anyway, the food wasn't pretty like theirs, but it was absolutely delicious. I loved it. Even baby girl ate a little before deciding she would rather go dance than eat. The husband loved it a lot! He actually finished it all off, including that baby girl didn't eat! So a definite win for a traditional recipe.
(This is NOT a paid post. I am not sponsored by The Sioux Chef, though if he wants to sponsor me I don't mind at all! This is just my opinion of his amazing recipe!)
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