(Ardell's Famous)  Navajo Stew

(Often served on AdventureBus at the Grand Canyon)

Ingredients

one butternut squash                                                                                                                one 16 ounce can of hominy                                                                                                     one 16 ounce can of beans                                                                                                      one 12 ounce can of tomatillo sauce                                                                                        one 12 can of green enchilada or ranchero sauce (spice level is up to you)                                one 16 ounce jar of Napolitos                                                                                                 one pound of whatever meat you want. Or not!

Peel and cube the squash, then sautee until the cubes are browned slightly.
Put the meat in a pot with enough water to just cover it, and boil it until thoroughly cooked. Then remove the meat and "pull" it. (pulling is a southern meat prep technique of using a fork to rip the meat along the grain into smaller pieces)

Pour the tomatillo sauce and enchilada sauce into the pot with the stock from the meat, then add the hominy, beans, squash and meat to the mix and stew it for awhile. This softens up these veggies, and allows the meat to marinate in the sauce. Don't put the napolitos in until 10 or 15 minutes before serving, as these cactus tenders will turn to mush if you put them in too early.

Ok, NOW add the napolitos and serve, yeah, that's it. Excellent....that's good. Now serve it over frybread and garnish with jalapeno (green) tabasco sauce.

Navajo FryBread       
Ingredients

two cups of flour (white seems to work best, but feel free to experiment)                                     a half teaspoon of baking powder                                                                                               a half a teaspoon of salt                                                                                                             at least one cup of milk.                                                                                                      enough shortening to give you at least three quarters of an inch deep when melted in your pan.

Preparation

Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly, then cut in the milk until it forms a dough with a "pizza dough" consistency, then knead it thoroughly. Roll the dough into racket ball sized balls and allow them to rise for about an hour.

On a flour dusted surface, use a roller to flatten them out to about one-eighth of an inch thick, and then use a fork to perforate them pretty thoroughly.

Then in a pan over medium heat, deep fry them until they turn a nice golden brown on both sides. If you start getting really big bubbles, poke them with a fork.

Remove cooked frybread from pan and sop up any excess oil with paper towels.

Serve slathered with Navajo stew or dust them with powdered sugar  for dessert!


 

Ardell recommends this dish for Thanksgiving! Yes, it's that time of the year when folks in the North America celebrate the feast of Thanksgiving, an event in which English Puritans had a culinary cultural exchange with the native Americans of 17th century Massachusetts. The traditional turkey is still the flesh of choice among many folks, and shredded leftover turkey makes a great foundation for Navajo stew. In fact, turkeys and dogs were the only domesticated animals in southwestern indian culture until the arrival of the Conquistadors. They also had venison, wild mutton and javalina pork though too. I can't think of any meat that wouldn't go just fine in this dish. It is also quite good without any meat whatsoever.