Sopapillas (New Mexico)

After recovering from the exhaustion of my Ireland trip, I had to harness the power of positive thinking to gear up for my next trip two weeks later.  My outlook changed when I realized that I would get to sample some great regional foods when I traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexcio for work. Although I planned on taking advantage of a series of receptions hosted by colleges and academic centers, my friends persuaded me to go to actual restaurants.  I sampled favorites like green and red chile enchiladas, fresh tortilla chips and guacamole, quesadillas and frijoles.

My absolute favorite item on my New Mexican tour was the complementary basket of sopapillas and the squeeze bottle of honey that accompanied it.  Prior to my first trip to Albuquerque, (when I traveled with my then-boyfriend and now-husband from Chicago to Los Angeles after knowing each other a total of six weeks; I was lucky that it all ended in love and marriage and not a Lifetime Movie entitled "Highway to Death: The Regional Food Reporter Story," starring Markie Post as yours truly), I had only heard of sopapillas from one of my favorite Judy Blume books, Tiger Eyes. 

Sopapillas have the consistency of fry bread (see Indian Tacos) and the puffiness of Indian naaan.  The doughy treat itself is not sweet, but with the a touch of honey, it's transformed into a perfect sweet ending to any meal.  In Tex Mex restaurants, they often come as part of your meal and they can be a nice way to mediate the carb withdrawal felt after finishing an entire basket of chips and a warmer of tortillas.  Sometimes, restaurants will dust the sopapilla with powdered sugar and cinnamon to evoke a funnel cake feel, but the honey is what really makes it taste like pure heaven.  You can also find sopapillas filled with beef, pork or beans in the Southwest.

Happy Eating!

Indian Tacos (Southwest)

If you go to any major event in Southwestern states like Oklahoma and Arizona (state fairs, carnivals, rodeos, and monster truck rallies), you will inevitably find a truck or two or ten that sells Indian tacos.  You can also find a version of this dish on the Cheesecake Factory menu.  DO NOT go to a Cheesecake Factory to enjoy Indian tacos.  Get off the couch, go outside and indulge in the finest food a truck can produce.

The most interesting part of this type of taco is in fact its 'shell.'  Instead of the traditional tortilla, this taco is enveloped in fry bread, which is often credited to the Navajo.  With the rise of the pan-American Indian Movement and the growth of pow-wows to help preserve native culture in the 1960s, fry bread became associated with all Native people.  In the film "Smoke Signals," based on the work of Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Indian  Sherman Alexie, the character Thomas celebrates the sacredness of fry bread in a wonderfully funny take on the Bible's fish-and-loaves story.  Thomas also wears a kitschy "Fry Bread Power" t-shirt to assert his 'tough Indian' persona.  So what makes this bread so good?  Fry bread is analogous to Indian naan or circus elephant ears, but maintains its own character.  The bread dough is a basic recipe of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, yeast or baking powder and salt.  Yet, the preparation of the dough through a quick kneading and the almost flash fry method of preparing it creates a puffy, yet substantial round of bread.  The frying oil (or lard--yum) infuses the bread with a rich flavor and a delicate crisp crust.  Incidentally the picture to the far left depicts a Native American soldier making fry bread in Iraq.  While serving in Operation Iraqi freedom, American Indian soldiers arranged a pow-wow.  I love this picture because it reminds us all the various colors of our armed faces and the way that we import our food cultures with us to connect to our heritage...Alright, back to the tacos...

So, now that you got the tutorial on fry bread, on to the taco.  The gigantic size of the fry bread creates a plate for a wonderfully layered dish of seasoned meat, usually ground beef, cheddar cheese, onions, tomatoes and savory kidney beans. and a few sliced jalapenos to add some heat.  If it's not a hundred degrees outside while you are enjoying your Indian taco, you may safely add some sour cream to help cool your mouth down and match the richness of the taco.  

Now, Indian tacos are not the heart healthiest meal, and I recommend sharing them with your best mate while you tour the fairgrounds looking for the FFA exhibition of gigantic vegetables or the judge's stage of the local chili cook off.  If you were to make fry bread at home, you could try to use a healthier oil.  As for the taco, I suggest using ground turkey instead of beef, fiber-packed black beans and some plain yogurt instead of sour cream to reduce the fat and calories in this indulgent dish.

Happy Eating!