While in Arizona, my family and I discovered Navajo Tacos. We love them! Basically they are taco filling on Navajo Fry Bread. My grandkids love the Fry Bread all by itself, especially with honey. It's a bit labor intensive, but worth the work.
Fry Bread
6 cups of flour
2 TBSP of baking powder
1 TBSP of quick rising yeast
2 TBSP sugar
3 TBSP of softened butter or shortening
1 1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups of vegatable oil for frying.
Mix all dry ingredients into a large bowl. The bowl I use is a huge stainless steel bowl. Then cut in softened butter or shortening. I use my fingers to incorporate through the flour until the flour looks grainy. Mix your milk with the water and then slowly add to the flour a little at a time. Work into a dough ball, but don't over knead or your bread will turn out tough.Cover with a damp towel and set in a warm place. Let dough rise 1 - 2 hours.
Roll out golf ball size pieces of dough into 1/4 thick discs. If you doing this alone, then you can stack them up on wax paper to separate. I usually make these when my daughter Angela is here to help. She fries and I roll out the dough.
Heat up your vegetable oil on med-high heat in a large skillet. Put a small peice of dough. when it floats to the top, the oil is ready. Have a large cookie sheet lined with paper towels to put your Fry Bread on to drain. Cook your Fry bread unitl brown on both sides, turning once. This recipe makes 16 - 20 pieces of delicious Fry Bread!(Put your finished fry bread into a warm oven to keep warm until ready to serve.)
Taco Meat
3 lbs of lean ground beef
1 can of chopped hatch green chilies
1 can of Rotel Tomatoes with green chilies
4 TSP of garlic powder
4 TSP of cumin powder
4 TSP of chili powder
4 TSP of beef bouillon powder
1/2 large onion chopped
Brown the ground beef on a medium heat. Add the onion and saute until the onion is soft. Drain grease. Add the remaining ingredients and turn to low heat and cover. Let simmer for at least an hour, checking and stirring. Don't let the meat cook dry. Add a little water to keep it moist. the longer you let it simmer, the more tender the ground beef will be, just saying...
Put it all together now!
I warm up a can of Bushes Pinto Beans. No seasoning, and this is the only brand I recommend.
1 package of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 bag of shredded lettuce
2 or 3 chopped tomatoes
1 jar of your favorite salsa
1 can of corn or frozen corn warmed up
Build you Navajo taco to suit yourself. I use a slotted spoon and put some drained meat, drained beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa on mine. You can put sour cream, avocados, or substitute black beans for the pintos. Recently, I experimented with the salsa after receiving complaints the salsa I was buying wasn't spicy enough. I took a can of the smoked chipotle peppers in moke sauce and used my immersion blender stick to chopped it up really fine. I added that to the salsa. Boy, it's plenty spicy now and has that smoky taste. Family is happy now and loves it.
Hope you like my recipe. You know you can half it up if you don't want to make so much. As is, it fed 10 people with leftovers. Not a lot of leftovers, but enough for some lunches the next day for 4 of us. Anyway, enjoy!
