Indian Tacos with Indian Fry Bread

Indian and Mexican cuisines are poles apart in many ways, apart from they both have a fondness for spices. The following recipe shows you how they’re not as different as you might think. Both cuisines enjoy colorful, flavorful dishes

You will see this recipe teams fry bread, a popular Indian bread option, with typical taco toppings, resulting in a delicious fusion dish that will tantalize your tastebuds.

The fry bread is a simple combination of flour, milk, baking powder, and salt, and it’s fried in oil. The south of the border inspired toppings include taco seasoning, ground beef, cheese, onions, and iceberg lettuce. You need ranch style beans too.

If you’re unfamiliar with this ingredient, ranch style beans are made with pinto beans and spices as well as a tasty gravy. You don’t have to make them; you can get them canned from any Latin food market or decent sized grocery store.

Why You’ll Love the Recipe:

Family favorites are all very well and you probably have your own, perhaps making lasagna, Sloppy Joes and shepherd’s pie regularly, but sometimes it’s nice to think outside the box and come up with unusual fusion dishes. This recipe gives you all the tools you need for a great Indian/Mexican fusion dinner, and you can add any other taco toppings you want.

How to Serve It:

If you work on the bread and prepare the toppings at the same time, you can simply add the toppings to the hot fried bread and serve right away. Don’t delay serving because the bread will get soggy underneath the toppings after a while. You might wish to offer optional extras at the table, such as hot sauce, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, or chopped avocado.

Ingredients:

• Salt
• Flour
• Milk
• Baking powder
• Oil for frying

Toppings:

• Taco seasoning
• Ground beef
• Shredded cheese
• Onions
• Ranch style beans
• Iceberg lettuce

How to make Indian Tacos with Indian Fry Bread:

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.

Slowly add in the mix, mixing as you do.

Remove the dough from the bowl, and place onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.

While the dough is resting, add the ground beef to a skillet over medium high heat, add the beans, and saute until browned completely. Drain the extra fat.

Add the taco seasoning to the meat, and stir to combine.

Heat the oil in a deep-sided pot or skillet to 365 degrees.

Divide the dough into 4-5 pieces, and press into a tortilla shape.

Fry the bread in the heated oil until golden brown on both sides.

Remove, and top with beans, ground beef, lettuce tomatoes, onions and any other toppings you desire.

Indian fry bread topped with Mexican inspired taco toppings is a very unusual recipe. If you are in the mood for south of the border flavors but not so much crispy taco shells, then try this for a change of pace. You might even find you prefer this way of making tacos.

Can You Make It Ahead?

You can make the bread dough ahead, but don’t cook it or the beef mixture until you’re ready to serve it, for the very best results.

Storage Instructions:

If you have leftovers, keep the bread and beef mixture separate. Both will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Variations and Substitutions:

The fry bread is perfect just as it is. For the toppings though, you might like to change these up. For example, ground pork in place of ground beef, regular pinto or black beans in place of the ranch-style beans (if you do that, add salsa because you’ll be missing out on some of the liquid). You can also take your pick from any kind of shredded cheese. Mexican blend would work, or you could use cheddar.