Now to talk about making fry bread! I'm not gonna lie....it took me 3 trys before I got it right. But I do know the secret now!! Alot of recipes call for flour, baking powder, sugar, salt....blah blah blah......you don't need to measure all that stuff out!! You need self rising flour and water!! THAT'S IT!! Remember KISS!! (keep it simple silly) I could seriously just make a giant batch of fry bread and eat it all day long.....although....one thing to note is these taste U~MAZING fresh outta the fryer....but lose their glory as they sit and cool. Anyways....Ive never measured when Ive made these so I'm gonna do my best to give you a recipe for the fry bread part.
Let's talk beans. Depending on where you check/look for recipes for the toppings you will find the MANY different ways people make these. Some people keep the meat and beans separate and some combine them. I'm a combiner!! I just like the taste better and I think it makes your meat go further!! As far as toppings go...traditional are lettuce, cheese and tomatoes. I like to throw on cilantro and onions too and guacamole. Last night I was out of cilantro.....I know I know.....how could that happen....I should be banished from blogging about food....but I was....and I apologize.....please find it in your hearts to forgive me!! Oh and there is no guacamole in the pic either....but I have a perfect excuse for that too!! I was so excited to eat mine and so was the fam, that we all ate ours and I didn't take a pic first. So I had to make another one to photograph and we had eaten all the guacamole by then!! :)
Fry Bread
4 cups self rising flour (no substitutions!!!!)
1 1/2 cups warm water (or enough to make a nice sticky dough, it should form into a nice rounded pile but if you touch it, it should stick to your fingers!!)
Mix water and dough and let sit for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour. Flour the top of your dough and a clean surface very well. Grab a larger than a golf ball but smaller than a baseball sized dough ball and flatten on your floured surface. Should flatten to about 6" round. Fry in a deep fryer or a deep pan with about 3 inches of oil in it. Make sure the oil is very hot before dropping dough in. Fry until golden brown, then flip and do the same for the other side. They cook quick, approx 2-3 minutes on each side.
Beans
1 lb ground beef
1 lb pinto beans, washed thoroughly
1 can diced tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
1 pickled jalapeno, seeded
1 T chicken bouillon or salt as needed for taste
1 med onion, diced
1/2 lb of bacon cut into 1" pieces
Cook ground beef and diced onion over med heat until ground beef is cooked completely. Add in washed beans, tomatoes, garlic, jalapeno, bacon and enough water to cover beans completely. Add in bouillon or salt. Simmer, adding water as necessary, for approx 2-2 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. The water will have thickened into a 'sauce' at this point. You should let the water boil down to where it is level with the beans.
Assembly
Place one fry bread on a plate. Top with bean mixture, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, guacamole and sour cream. If you don't want to use fresh tomatoes you can eliminate those and just top with salsa or whatever toppings you like!!
