Every once in a while, I get extremely hungry for odd things I remember from my youth. And while I never really liked mutton stew (a staple on the Navajo reservation, where I spent many years), I did always like Fry Bread.

Fry Bread originated when the US government gave wheat flour and lard to the Navajo people imprisoned in Fort Sumner (Kit Carson had basically devastated their crops and livestock). It’s become a tradition on the reservation, despite the negative health effects. I’ll warn you now: Fry Bread is not a healthy food. I apologize to all my friends currently on diets.

You can Google for Fry Bread and find some other recipes, too. Nearly every tribe has a version. Some have yeast and take hours to prepare, others use copious amounts of lard or shortening. I like the simple Navajo variations, myself.

Fry Bread

Ingredients

Most recipes for Fry Bread are quite similar, but no two are the same. The high altitude of New Mexico means changes in recipes: consequently, some Fry Bread recipes will need some adjustment (usually more flour). I also try to avoid using lard when I make mine.

• 2-3 cups flour (you can also use a mix of white and wheat flour)
• 1-2 teaspoons of salt
• 2-3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1-1.5 cups of water
• 2-3 cups vegetable oil or shortening

Preparation

Preparation of the dough is rather easy. Mix everything together. You don’t want the dough to be too sticky. While mixing, you need to heat up some oil to cook the dough in (that would be the “Fry” part). You can use any pan that’s somewhat deep, but you need to be very careful. The best way is to use an electric frying pan or a deep fryer that you can adjust the heat on (between 170-190 degrees is good). Generally though, a moderate-high setting will do, if you don’t have an electric flying pan. Note: The oil will be hot. Wear long sleeves and oven mitts. Make sure that all pets are elsewhere. Hot oil is bad news on exposed skin.

Get a lot of paper towels ready, too. You’ll be needing them.

Tear off a small piece of the dough to test the oil’s readiness: it should rise to the top and sizzle a bit and turn a nice golden brown. If that happens, you are ready: take some of the dough and make a disc about 4 inches across and about a half inch deep (you might want to make either larger or smaller ones, so feel free to experiment). Tear a hole in the center of the disc (it’s a tradition and it gives you something to poke the end of a wooden spoon through to lift the thing). It’ll probably take about a minute or so per side, depending on the heat of the oil. You want it to look golden brown on both sides.

When done, put the Fry Bread on the paper towels. These things will be very oily, so you might want to pat them with paper towels to get any excess oil off.

There you go. Normally, you’d eat these with something like Green Chile Stew, though you could just eat them with honey (much like a sopapilla) or sprinkle them with powdered sugar or Tang. You can also top the Fry Bread with ground beef, pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, etc. Makes a very nice (but fattening) meal.

Technorati Tags: Navajo, Fry Bread

This entry was posted on Friday, January 6th, 2006 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Food and Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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