Recipe: Native American Fry-Bread Taco

indian-taco

Source: The Gutsy Gourmet

Fry-bread is a native American all time favorite. It is the “Fry-Bread concessions that have the longest lines at the Pow Wows and Native American Dance and Drum Festivals. Fry-bread and especially fry bread Tacos will vary from tribe to tribe, band to band and family to family. Below is a recipe that is common to the Navajo and neighboring tribes.

INGREDIENTS: MAKES 2 – 4

INGREDIENTS FOR FRY-BREAD MAKES (4 ) “6 – 7″ or (2) 8″ INCH FRY BREADS

● 1 Cup(s) unbleached flour
● ½ Teaspoon(s) Salt
● 5 or more Cup(s) Warm Water
● 1 Tablespoon(s) powdered milk
● 1 ½ Teaspoon(s) baking powder (add another ½ Teaspoon for more rise)
● ½ Cup(s) water
● 2 Cup(s) Cooking Oil for frying

Makes 3-4 fry-bread depending on the size you make the bread.

INGREDIENTS TACO TOPPING Suggestions**SEE COOK’S NOTE**

● 1 lb. Ground Drained Hamburger
● 1 Packet Taco Seasoning or use your own recipe (cumin, garlic salt, New Mexico chili powder)
● 1 can Cooked Black Beans or Pinto Beans
● ½ cup corn kernels
● Chopped Tomatoes
● Shredded iceberg Lettuce
● Grated Cheddar Cheese, Monterey pepper Jack, or Mexican cheese.
● Salsa, your favorite blend, red or green, hot or mild (salsa verde goes well)
● Sour Cream

*COOKS NOTE*
Feel free to alter this recipe to your own tastes, especially the topping. Change the salsa, make it hotter or milder, use your favorite beans, use pork, chicken or fish for the meat. Add Jalapeños or Chipotlè or load it up with your favorite cheese.

DIRECTIONS FOR FRY-BREAD:

1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl together and whisk them together thoroughly.

2. Pour the water over the dry ingredients and stir them together with a fork until the mixture starts to clump up. I used a whisk in the video and that’s OK! to start with but it gets messy when the clumping starts so I have elected to always use the fork in the future.

3. Now while the mixture is still in the bowl flour your hands.

4. Now use your hand or hands and begin rolling the dough or moving it about the bowl to pick up all the excess flour in the bowl to coat the outside of the dough. Don’t knead the dough. You want to form a ball that is well floured on the outside and still doughy on the inside. Kneading this dough will make the resulting product heavy and take away from it’s flexibility and chew. You want the inside of the dough sticky after the ball is formed.

5. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and using your freshly floured hands you can stretch and shape and press the dough into any shape you want. Navajo Taco’s do not have to been perfectly round as they are not a perfect dish. If you want to roll the dough into a ball and use a roller for uniformity that is fine too. Form your dough into 6 to 7 inch rough diameters.

6. Heat your oil in pan. You want a minimum of ½ inch of oil in the pan. The skillet should be 10 -12 inches in diameter. Heat to 375℉.

7. Take your formed dough, and cooking each fry-bread one at a time gently place the dough into the hot oil so you don’t get any splatter.

8. Press your dough down with the flat of your spatula to get the fry bread to submerge in the oil to get some of the hot oil on the top of the dough. You may want to do this a couple of time for each side of the fry-bread.

9. Fry each side until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Make sure they are golden brown on the outside. They will be chewy on the inside.

10. The fry bread you make will stay warm in your oven while you make the filling. Do not heat in the microwave unless you know what you are doing, as this will make the fry-bread tough and impossible to eat.

11. Now this recipe will make 3 to 4 fry 6-7 inch fry-breads. This is for an open face taco. If you want to fold them like a usual taco, you will get two fry-breads about 8 inches in diameter from this recipe.