For many years while traveling the Southwest, we assumed that fry bread was some sort of Fred Harvey knock-off of fried dough or perhaps an outsized sopaipilla or simply something made by contemporary Navajo cooks to appeal to Americans’ taste for just about anything fried in a bucket of fat. We were wrong. It is no exaggeration to say that fry bread is to Navajos what matzoh is to Jews—a simple dish with profound meaning that arises from the harsh tribulations of ancestors. When the U.S. Army rounded up Navajos after they surrendered to Kit Carson in 1864, the captives were marched 300 miles through winter snows to Bosque Redondo, near Fort Sumner along the Pecos River in New Mexico. Many starved on what is now known as the Long Walk, and many more died from harsh conditions on the reservation. The meager supplies issued by their captors included lard, flour, baking powder, and powdered milk, and from these they learned to make fry bread—broad discs of dough that puff up in hot oil and are delicious plain or as a partner for a bowl of chili or sugared for dessert. Fry bread also serves as the foundation layer of what is known as a Navajo taco or Indian taco, heaped with all the ingredients that normally would be stuffed into a corn or wheat tortilla.
Hot from the kettle, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon, Navajo fry bread is a glorious snack.
Navajo Taco
The Navajo taco is a multicultural dish that is a little bit Mexican, Native American, and Anglo and even, arguably, Italian, at least conceptually, given its resemblance to pizza. Indeed, Navajo tacos are as open to creative variation as pizza, whether topped with lunchtime ingredients or breakfast. For the latter, fry the bread as directed, and spread the hot disc with a bit of butter and cinnamon sugar or top it with eggs the way you like them and cooked chorizo sausage.
Fry Bread
1–1½ cups flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup instant milk
½–¾ cups water
Oil for frying
Taco Meat
½ cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
2 cups pinto beans, drained
Toppings
Grated Monterey Jack cheese
Shredded lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped raw onions
Chopped olives
Sour cream
1. Mix together 1 cup of the flour, the baking powder, salt, and instant milk. Mix in ½ cup water, adding more or less and additional flour, if needed, to create a workable dough. Knead the dough about 5 minutes, cover, and let rest 20 minutes while you prepare the meat and assemble toppings of choice.
2. Cook the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil until they soften. Add the beef and cook, stirring constantly with a fork so it doesn’t clump up. When meat is browned, drain any excess oil and stir in the pinto beans.
3. Heat one inch of vegetable oil to 360°F in a broad, deep skillet.
4. Pinch off a sphere of dough about 2 inches in diameter and roll it out on a floured board until it is ⅓ inch thick and about 8 inches wide. Slide the disc into the hot oil, cook about 1 minute, flip, and cook 1 minute more. It will puff up, but if a part of it bubbles too high while cooking, puncture it with a sharp knife. The disc is done when it is light gold. Use tongs to remove it from the oil and drain it on paper towels. Continue until you have cooked all the dough. You should have 4-6 discs.
5. Spoon the beef and bean mix onto a disc and spread it across evenly. Add toppings of choice and serve.
4 SERVINGS