Some of our other favorite weeknight meal ideas are Homemade Hamburger Helper, Meatloaf Hamburger Patties, and homemade pizza made with the BEST Pizza Dough Recipe.
Navajo Tacos (Indian Fry Bread)
If you have never had a Navajo Taco before, now is the time to remedy that situation. The history behind this dish and the importance of the Navajo taco is something I was only vaguely aware of before deciding to make this as a recipe for my American Eats series while I’m looking at the favorite foods of the state of Arizona. Navajo Tacos were voted the State Dish of Arizona in a 1995 poll by the Arizona Republic newspaper and show up on many lists as one of the foods that Arizona is best known for. But I could have shared this for South Dakota, which declared Indian fry bread to be the official state bread of South Dakota in 2005, or Oklahoma, which is home to many Native Americans and hosts a large number of pow-wows each year where the Navajo Taco (sometimes just called an Indian taco, since it has been adopted and adapted by many tribes since it’s creation) is the most popular fare. This history behind Navajo fry bread is a painful one, as is much of Native American history. It was created in 1864 using the simplest of ingredients – the flour, salt and lard that was supplied by the United States government to the Navajo people of Arizona when they were forced to leave their historical homeland and march 300-miles by foot on a journey that has come to be known as the “the Long Walk” to New Mexico, where they were to resettle. The new land did not support their traditional staples of vegetables and beans, so the fry bread came to be a big part of their diet and culture. These large discs of fried dough can be served savory or sweet, take very little time to prepare, and are made with the same, simple ingredients as when they were first created.
How to Make Indian Fry Bread
There are many ways and recipes for how to make indian fry bread. One way is to just use any regular bread dough made with yeast but instead of shaping it into loaves, pinch off small sections of dough and pat it out flat, then fry it. This is how I grew up enjoying indian fry bread – whenever my mom would make loaves of bread, she would pinch off dough and fry it up for us to enjoy hot with honey dripping all over it. In Utah, these are called “scones”, which are nothing like traditional English scones whatsoever. You could even use thawed Rhodes roll dough or even canned Pillsbury biscuits that you just flatten out and fry. But really it takes hardly any extra time or effort to make fry bread dough (I have always used this Amish white bread, which is awesome for fry bread made with yeast) from scratch. But traditional, authentic indian fry bread was made without yeast, and they are delicious too, with the added benefit of requiring a shorter resting or rising time. So that’s the version I’m sharing with this recipe today. To make indian fry bread, you just mix together flour (for true, authentic fry bread it should be Bluebird flour), salt, baking powder, and water, then let the dough rest for a bit before kneading it, letting rest for a few minutes, then dividing it into eight equal sections by pinching off golf ball-sized amounts and flattening them out. Then fry the discs of dough in hot oil for a few minutes. It is seriously so simple and so good! I just use my skillet and about an inch of oil to fry them, so it’s pretty easy clean-up. And while these are also good topped with honey for a sweet treat, they are traditionally served as a dinner item with meat, beans, and all the taco fixin’s you can think of. Really though, Navajo tacos are just as good with shredded beef, carnitas, chili, or pulled pork are the more traditional ground beef and beans. Basically anything you might otherwise put in a taco shell or on nachos is going to be tasty on this crispy, fried shell! I’m including a meat topping option in the recipe today that is kind of a cross between taco meat and a chili that I think is really good, so you have lots of options to choose! Serve it up with pico de gallo, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, cheese (anything from cheddar, to colby jack, to pepperjack, to cotija), black olives, green onions, sliced avocado and let family members create their own perfect Navajo taco! I always do my best to research recipes from other cultures thoroughly to represent them as best I can. If this recipe is from your country or culture and you have suggestions for how I can improve its authenticity, please let me know in the comments below! It’s important to us to share beloved foods of other cultures with as much accuracy as possible, while also considering things like accessibility of ingredients and ease of preparation for most home cooks.
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More States I Have Visited in my American Eats Series
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