Calabacitas and the Seven Warrior Foods
Image
This is a repost from my previous blog:
The other day I made calabacitas, that's Spanish for squash. This is a vegan Mexican recipe that not only reminds me of my mom's cooking but is incredibly tasty as well. I paired it with
. It was the second time I tried amaranth, one of my supervisors introduced it to me and it has the taste of corn. According to history, amaranth that was banned by the Spanish after the conquest of Mexico as part of the seven warrior foods because they believe it gave the indigenous people super powers.
Here's a list of the seven warrior foods:
Corn Tlaolli
Beans Etl
SquashTzilacayohtli
Amaranth Huauhtli
Nopal Nopalli
Chili Chilli
Chia Chian
Other important foods include:
Maguay Metl
Spirulina Tecuitatl
Source: Aztec Stories
Many of these food products continue to be staples in the traditional Mexican diet.
Calabacitas
3 Mexican squash
1 tomato
1/2 white onion
1 clove of garlic
1 ear of corn
salt to taste
How to:
To begin, I prepped all of my veggies. I cut my squash in half lengthwise then I sliced the pieces. You can also choose to make them in smaller pieces but I like mine in bigger slices. I also chopped my tomato, onion, and corn, and garlic. I keep my onion pieces pretty big so that people who may not like it can pick it out. It's all a matter of preference.
Once my veggies were prepped I sauteed my onions and tomato in a bit of olive oil until softened(just enough for them to cook and not stick to the pan), I added a bit of salt. Then I added the garlic and the corn (you can also add half a can of corn depending on how much you'd like). Once my onions softened I added the squash and a bit of water so that the squash could cook. Once the squash and corn is cooked it is ready to enjoy.
Typically, people eat this with a bit of cheese on top, but since I don't eat cheese I excluded it from this.
This makes 2-4 servings. I mainly cook for myself so if I made this for a larger group of people I might make more. I love having leftovers, though :]
For the amaranth I just boiled it with water and added a bit of vegetable broth. It was my first time prepping it myself so I'm still learning.
Enjoy! :]