Look! Back to the original version! Old recipe (still yummy!) but new (sort of) book! RESCUE MOON went live yesterday. And being the doofus I am, I totally blanked on that fact. Otherwise, I would have made a big deal of it in yesterday’s blog. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Moving on, this is a truly a comfort food, and traditional in several of the Five Tribes. While harvesting and cooking “possum grapes” was the old way, modern tribal cooks have updated the recipe to make it easy and still just as delicious. There comfort in tradttions and this recipe is an old one handed down generation to generation.

GRAPE DUMPLINGS RECIPE
Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1¼ cups water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
64 ounces grape juice
Sugar to taste

Let’s Make It

Place flour in a bowl. Make a well in center of flour and crack an egg into center. Using your fingers, begin mixing the egg into the flour and add water as you go. Form the dough into a ball and roll out very thin. Cut into 1-inch squares.

In a large pot place grape juice and sugar to taste. Bring to a rolling boil. Drop dumplings into boiling grape juice. Mix 1 Tablespoon cornstarch in 1 cup water. Add to hot grape juice. Cook for a few minutes so it thickens a bit and serve hot.

Kitchen Tip:

There are two different versions I’ve seen. One uses water for the dough. They other uses grape juice. Next time I make them I’ll be trying it with the juice!

Serve warm in a bowl. You can top with whipped cream or ice cream or just eat them plain.

This is one of Hawkins “Hawk” Greenwood’s favorite treats and his grandmother teaches Dana Peterson how to make them in the book. While Hawk is Choctaw, I’ll admit to finding a video of how to make these on Chickasaw-TV. THIS VERSION uses grape juice to make the recipe. You should check out the video just to hear the wonderful reminiscenses by the tribal elder. She’s all kinds of awesome! And I’ll admit that she rather reminds me Mariam Greenwood, Hawk’s ipokni, which means grandmother in the Choctaw language. If you want to read Hawk and Dana’s updated and revised story–including a kidnapping, rescue, and a road trip full of bikers–grab a copy of RESCUE MOON from your favorite online book seller. It should be wide almost everywhere now. Check out BOOKS2READ for the link to your fave store or click on either cover photos to get there.

I have to admit, now I’m hungry for these. Too bad I’ve already made my grocery run for the week. Maybe I’ll add grape juice to my list for next week. What about y’all? What’s your favorite dessert?