Mapi' (Hidatsa sunflower-seed balls)
Mapi' are Hidatsa sunflower-seed balls formed from parched meal. This modern, untested kitchen adaptation uses toasted kernels and keeps the historical method distinct.
Hidatsa four-vegetables-mixed
do´patsa-makihi´kĕ · four-vegetables-mixed
Do´patsa-makihi´kĕ, or four-vegetables-mixed, combines beans, dried squash, corn meal and sunflower meal in a Hidatsa winter dish. This entry keeps a modern, untested adaptation separate from the historical account.
A winter dish of four gathered and stored crops
Buffalo Bird Woman called the dish do´patsa-makihi´kĕ: do´patsa referred to four things, and makihi´kĕ to mixing or putting together. The 1917 account says her family considered it their best dish. The four food components were beans, dried squash, corn meal and sunflower meal.
The dish belonged to a seasonal pantry. Buffalo Bird Woman says it was a winter food and that the squash in it was dried and sliced, not fresh. The account also says the meal was made fresh for each serving and the dish eaten freshly cooked. Its ingredients were not interchangeable garnish: beans and squash cooked in the pot while parched corn and sunflower seed were pounded into a meal added near the end.
Sources for this section
The method Buffalo Bird Woman described
For a family of five, she put a clay pot of water over the fire and added one double-handful of beans, a quantity she said stayed the same for a smaller or larger family. She cut a length from a seven-Indian-fathom grass string of dried squash, tied it into a loop and cooked it with the beans. When the squash was tender, she lifted it out by the string, mashed it in a wooden bowl and returned it to the pot.
She then added four or five double-handfuls of mixed meal made from parched sunflower seed and parched corn. For one dish she used two parchings of sunflower seed and two of corn, putting more corn into each parching than sunflower seed. She boiled the mixture for a few minutes more. A little alkali salt might be used, but seasoning was not usual and no other seasoning was used. These quantities and operations describe this historical account; they are not converted into the modern adaptation's cup and gram measures.
Sources for this section
A separate modern kitchen adaptation
The supplied modern adaptation uses 40 g dried squash, 3 cups water, 1½ cups cooked beans, ¼ cup toasted cornmeal and ¼ cup toasted, ground sunflower kernels. It simmers the squash until tender, mashes it, adds the remaining ingredients and simmers until smooth; it allows more water and optional salt. These measures and instructions belong to the modern adaptation. The historical text does not specify these modern quantities, cooked-bean starting point, smooth texture target or additional-water instruction.
The adaptation has not been kitchen-tested. It supplies no cooking times, temperatures, yield, scaling basis or storage duration. The historical account's family-of-five statement is not a yield for these modern proportions, and its reference to occasional alkali salt does not establish the type or amount of salt in the adaptation.
Sources for this section
History
In his 1917 book, Gilbert L. Wilson records Buffalo Bird Woman's (Maxi´diwiac's) account of do´patsa-makihi´kĕ, or four-vegetables-mixed, a Hidatsa dish made with beans, dried squash, parched cornmeal and sunflower meal. She described it as a winter dish served freshly cooked. The 1917 publication records the practice but does not date its beginning.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Dried squash
40 g
710 mL3 cup as recorded
Additional water may be added as needed.Cooked beans
355 mL1½ cup as recorded
CornmealUse toasted cornmeal.
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
The measure basis relative to toasting is not stated.Sunflower seedsUse toasted, ground kernels.
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
The measure basis relative to toasting and grinding is not stated.Salt (optional)
Amount not stated
Optional; amount not stated.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
The modern adaptation has not been kitchen-tested and gives no storage duration. The historical account describes fresh cooking but does not validate storage for this adaptation.
- Simmer 40 g dried squash in 3 cups water until tender, then mash.
- Add 1½ cups cooked beans, ¼ cup toasted cornmeal, and ¼ cup toasted, ground sunflower kernels.
- Simmer until smooth, adding water as needed.
- Add salt if desired.
Places
North Dakota
Historical attestation · Region evidenceThe book locates its Hidatsa informant and fieldwork at Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. The dish passage does not name a more precise preparation site; this is historical association, not an origin claim.
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Sources
University of Minnesota BulletinHistory · Method · Culture · Geography
Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian InterpretationChapter III describes do´patsa-makihi´kĕ, a dish for a family of five made by boiling beans and dried squash, then adding meal from parched corn and sunflower seed.
The source specifies a fixed double-handful of beans, dried squash measured from a grass string, two parchings each of sunflower and corn, and four or five double-handfuls of mixed meal; it describes freshly cooked winter service and only occasional alkali salt.
Cited in: A winter dish of four gathered and stored crops; The method Buffalo Bird Woman described; A separate modern kitchen adaptation