The great hominy debate

It's Super Bowl weekend. Everyone is preparing snacks and dips for the football game of the season between Kansas City and the 49ers. That's my extent of football knowledge. But, football provides the perfect opportunity for knitting or crocheting. I never miss anything with the instant replays, replays, replays and replays. Someday, I will understand those ever-changing rules.

Now about dips. I commented on a post on Facebook that I had a great hominy dip recipe. This followed a long thread of comments about how yucky hominy was. 

Let's begin with what it really is....
According to Wikipedia -- Hominy is made in a process called nixtamalization. To make hominy, field corn (maize) grain is dried, then treated by soaking and cooking the mature (hard) grain in a dilute solution of lye (sodium hydroxide) (which can be produced from water and wood ash) or of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide from limestone, not the fruit called lime). The maize is then washed thoroughly to remove the bitter flavor of the lye or lime. Alkalinity helps dissolve hemicellulose, the major glue-like component of the maize cell walls, loosens the hulls from the kernels, and softens the corn. Also, soaking the corn in lye[2] kills the seed's germ, which keeps it from sprouting while in storage. Finally, in addition to providing a source of dietary calcium, the lye or lime reacts with the corn so that the nutrient niacin can be assimilated by the digestive tract.[3] People consume hominy in intact kernels, grind it into sand-sized particles for grits, or into flour.

That being said, I would not eat it straight out of the can. But instead, you can use it in this recipe to enjoy during the football game. Or, anytime you are serving a Mexican buffet.

Tex-Mex Dip
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 16-oz. can refried beans
1 16-oz. can hominy, drained
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeños
           (or combine your jalapeños with your cheddar cheese according to your tastes.)
1/3 cup beer
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 of a 1.25 ounce package of taco seasoning
Chips to dip

​In a 1.5-quart microwave safe casserole melt butter. Add onion. Cook uncovered for about 2 minutes (this all depends on how fast your microwave cooks). Stir in beans, hominy, 1/2 cup cheese, beer, and seasoning mix. Microwave covered for 5 minutes, stirring twice. Stir in half the tomato. Top with remaining cheese, chopped tomatoes and additional onion.

SERVE with chips or on tortillas.

​NOTE: If desired, cover and chill half of the mixture before adding the tomato. Reheat and follow the instructions.

If you like bean dip, but don't like the texture, this is a fabulous substitute. 

AND, sorry it took so long to do this, but working all week and reorganizing our kitchen made it difficult to find this recipe. BUT, now I will always have it available here.

​Hope your team wins.