Daphne Miller, M.D. is a family physician and author of The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discovers the Healthiest Diets from Around the World--Why They Work and How to Bring Them Home.  She loves to cook, she loves adventure and she loves her patients.  Over the past three years she has traveled around the world to find authentic indigenous recipes and traditions that can help preserve health and prevent the many modern diseases caused by a Western lifestyle. Dr. Miller graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1993 and then did a residency and research fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. In 2006 she completed Andrew Weil’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship at the University of Arizona. She spends part of her time teaching nutrition and integrative medicine and she also has a private family practice in San Francisco where she frequently prescribes whole foods rather than drugs. Her two kids and her husband often accompany her on her nutrition adventures.

Guest Blogger Daphne Miller--

Three Sisters Stew is so delicious that it received 10/10 ratings by all recipe reviewers.  It is amazing with homemade tortillas! 

This is a hearty satisfying, easy-to-assemble stew that makes terrific use of a variety of slow carbohydrates.  I tasted half a dozen variations on this stew during my time in Copper Canyon.  If you decide to use homemade pozole corn and home-cooked beans, then these will need to be prepared ahead of time. 

The three sisters are not three women who spoil the broth, but refer to slow-release foods eaten natively by the Tarahumara of Copper Canyon, Mexico: maize (corn), beans, and squash.

Three Sisters Stew               Serves 4 to 6

3 slices pork or turkey bacon, chopped in bite size pieces or 1 tablespoon lard (optional but adds a lot of flavor)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried ancho chile (or more if desired)

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried

2 cups lima or other broad beans, soaked and cooked

2 cups fresh or frozen corn or 2 cups precooked pozole or 2 cups canned hominy

2 cups sliced delicata squash (the long, thin yellow ones with the green lines)*

3 fresh tomatoes, diced, or one 14-ounce can diced, tomatoes or 5 small tomatillos, hulled and diced

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth or water

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

In a large sauté pan, cook bacon over medium heat.  Add the olive oil.  If using lard, heat lard and olive oil at the same time.

Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and sauté until the onion is translucent.  Add the chile and thyme and stir several times.  Add the beans, pozole, squash, tomato or tomatillo, and broth and bring to a bubbling boil, then turn down to a simmer and cover.  Do not remove the lid!  Cook for 20-25 minutes.  For a thicker, stew, remove 1 cup and puree in the blender, then return it to the general pot.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add the cilantro and stir for 1 minute.

Serve warm topped with mashed avocado and a sprinkling of queso blanco and toasted pumpkin seeds. This stew is also delicious the next day with tortillas or eggs.

*To prepare delicata squash, peel with a vegetable peeler, cut off ends, then cut in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds.  Cut each piece in half again lengthwise, then crosswise into thin 1/2 inch wide slices.  These can also be substituted with a variety of summer squashes or other gourds, depending on what is in season.

Pozole

Pozole is a meaty corn grain.  In general, 1 cup of dried pozole nets 2 cups cooked.

Option 1:  Soak the pozole overnight in enough water to cover it by two inches.  Drain.  Place in a saucepan with fresh water to cover by at least 1 inch.  Bring to a boil and then simmer, partially covered, until the corn kernels are tender, about 2-3 hours.  Many of the kernels will split open.

Option 2:  Prepare pozole in a slow cooker.  Add a ratio of 1 cup pozole to 3 cups water.  Cook for 4 hours at the low setting.

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Update on Jun 19, 2008 by At Basil & Spice

Inspired by this Daphne Miller's writing and research, I myself prepared the Three Sisters Stew and Pozole.  It is a delicious winner!  It also whispers of the lima beans and cilantro in tomato sauce eaten in the Middle East.

Kelly Jad'on/Founder