In the 16th century, maize entered the Indian Subcontinent with the Portuguese, and it became a staple grain for us. Along with maize, the Portuguese brought corn from South America to South Asia, but they failed to introduce us to the technology to make corn flour. Without that technology our corn flatbreads are hard and thus not easy to eat. If you are familiar with corn tacos from the Americas, it’s soft and flexible like our flatbreads made from wheat flour. The technology we are missing is called ‘nixtamalization’.
Some context
Rice, maize, and wheat are important crops for food security in Nepal. Paddy and wheat are grown in plains of Tarai, valleys, and irrigated lands in the mountains while maize is cultivated in mid-hills of the country. Maize is one of the major crops of Nepal. Maize cultivation is an important farm cultivation among Nepali farmers. Basically, in the rural hills of Nepal like Okhaldhunga, it dominates any other type of crop production. The United States is the largest producer of corn in the world followed by China, Brazil and Argentina. Eight countries and four states in the US produce over one billion bushels of corn. Most scientists agree that corn and maize originated in central Mexico and was domesticated 7000 to 9000 years ago from a wild grass plant called teosinte. Teosinte looked nothing like modern maize, in particular due smaller, fewer and more spaced-out kernels, each surrounded by a tough casing. Teosinte still grows in Mexico today.
Native Americans brought corn up the Mississippi River to North America. The earliest corn plant was very small, but after periods of breeding by Native Americans, pilgrims, and scientists, the corn plant has changed into the corn that we know of today. The Portuguese introduced it to India in the 16th century, and then it came to Nepal. When corn came to India, an important step of corn flour production didn’t arrive. It was lost on the way. So, corn delicacies and food varieties made here aren’t soft or chewy enough. South Asian corn flatbreads break easily and are difficult to digest and chew. Children and old people can’t have these rotis easily. This is because the outer shell of corn is made of cellulose, an insoluble fiber, which human bodies are unable to digest, unless broken down before entering the digestive system. However, chewing kernels for longer makes it easier for the body to access the additional nutrients from the cellulose walls, adding to its nutritional value. This can be made simpler by a process called nixtamalization which normally makes cornbread and rotis soft instead of brittle. With the introduction of this process, we can make soft corn rotis and even stuff them or make rolls with them.
What is nixtamalization?
Nixtamalization is a process involving cooking and soaking dried corn kernels with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) or another alkali. In it, there is preparation of maize (corn), or other grain where the corn is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually lime water but sometimes in wood ash, which is then washed and hulled. This removes much of the grain’s bran which significantly increases the availability of niacin in the corn. It also delivers other nutritional benefits. The detail that fascinates me is that nixtamalization of corn was invented by Meso-Americans thousands of years ago. I wonder how they ever figured out that they needed to cook the corn with cal, as lime is called in Spanish. Corn flour made by this process has many health benefits, including the fact that it’s naturally gluten free. Flour made from corn is also higher in fiber, vitamin A, zinc and iron than wheat flour. The combination of fiber and carbohydrates makes it a bit more filling as well. It’s also a good thing gastronomically as nixtamalization changes the flavor of corn in amazing ways and, by removing the bran, makes it much easier to grind and make dough. This was especially useful in ancient times when this was all done by hand. The result is a corn dough, called ‘masa’ in Spanish, that’s responsible for much of the Mexican food we love today, from tacos to tamales, quesadillas to sopes, and gorditas to atoles.
Nixtamalization in Nepal
In 2021, maize imports for Nepal totalled to $158,273. The import is growing at an average annual rate of 331.27 percent. I believe the process of nixtamalization can bring a food revolution in Nepal. Through nixtamalization, we can cook corn with wood ash (kharani) until it goes soft. This means all husk will be removed and drained. We could use baking soda as the alkaline material. This could be done by filling a large pot with a ratio of two parts water for every one part of dried corn. We can also sprinkle in baking soda at a rate of two tablespoons for every one quart of dried corn. This is a traditional and standard household process in South America and Mexico for generations. We could use this technique to make dough pliable. The bread made with such dough will be very soft, nutritious, healthy, and easy to digest.
The author is a London-based Nepali R&D chef
