Have you been lucky enough to eat Indian Fry Bread?
If not… you must experience these delicious Taos Tacos – Indian Tacos – fry bread with taco toppings!
I think the first time I had Indian Tacos was as a child… when traveling with family. We did the Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona 4-corners trip. It was the first time through an Indian reservation (probably where I got my love of turquoise – tribe members selling their wares roadside). Then I continued looking for them every chance I would get – every trip to Taos, Santa Fe… but I think the best I’ve had… at a Pow Wow on the Mescalero reservation.
There are some fabulous Native American Indian restaurants in Denver. If you are hankering for one… you might check out Tocabe.
But – You can also make them at home! Not on the high difficulty scale. 5 ingredients for the fry bread, and a tasty taco meat with toppings.
Indian fry bread is tradition to the Navajo. Though the tradition of fry bread is common among many Southwestern Tribes, it is the Navajo who developed this recipe. I call it Taos Tacos – because that is where I first tasted this amazing fry bread. I never forgot the experience. I do not think I ever will.
The toppings for the taco – are whatever you want them to be!
The traditional “Navajo Taco” included a combination of beans or ground beef, chopped lettuce, sliced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese, and optional green chile or sour cream atop crispy Fry Bread. Vegetarian? Beans, rice, and veggies – perfect. Gluten-free? Just use a good gluten-free baking flour!
Just roll ’em up and eat them! I do!
Enjoy!
Teri~
- 1 cup unbleached flour (or gluten-free for gluten-free)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon powdered milk or milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup lard (Crisco)
- ½ cup water
- Vegetable oil or lard for frying
- Extra flour to flour your hands
- 1 lb grass fed beef
- ½ sweet onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
- 1 tsp season salt
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
- 2 cups shredded cheddar-jack cheese (I used vegan cheddar)
- Optional: green chiles, black olives, sour cream, or chopped cilantro
- Sift together the flour, salt, powdered milk or milk, baking powder, and lard into a large bowl.
- Pour the water over the flour mixture all at once and stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form one big clump.
- Flour your hands well.
- Using your hands, mix the dough, incorporating all the flour into the mixture to form a ball.
- Mix well, but do NOT knead the dough. Kneading will make the dough heavy when cooked.
- The inside of the dough ball should still be sticky after it is formed, while the outside will be well floured. Add flour as needed to form into a cylinder.
- Cut the dough into four (4) pieces.
- Let dough sit in a warm place for 1 hour. (I put them in the microwave).
- While the dough is resting - cook the beef.
- In a medium-size saucepan over medium heat add the beef, onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, chipotle powder, season salt, fresh parsley or cilantro, and the salt and pepper.
- Cook until ground beef is cooked through and set aside.
- After the dough has rested use your floured hands and shape, stretch, pat, and form a disk of about 5 to 7 inches in diameter. Do not worry about it being round.
- In a deep heavy cast iron skillet heat the vegetable oil/ lard (Oil should be about 1-inch deep) to about 350 degrees F. (You can check if your oil is ready by dipping the end of a wooden spoon in and seeing if that bubble).
- Take the formed dough and gently place it into the oil, being careful not to splatter the hot oil.
- Press down on the dough as it fries so the top is submerged the hot oil.
- Fry until brown, and then flip slowly to fry the other side, about 3 to 4 minutes each side, turning every 2 minutes.
- Place the cooked Fry Bread on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Add the toppings to your taco, plate and enjoy!