Frybread power

Tulsan competes at National Indian Taco Championship

A line formed at Florence Park Café for a delicacy not found often enough in this neighborhood—Indian tacos. Julie Morgan, a hair stylist by trade, put up her scissors for the evening to give Tulsa a taste of her family’s Native American tradition at a fundraiser she hosted to help her prepare for the National Indian Taco Festival in Pawhuska. 

“We thought maybe 30 to 50 people would show up at the fundraiser,” said Morgan, “but we ended up selling about 120 tacos.”

Morgan, who is Creek, has been making Indian tacos for her friends and family for about 20 years. 

“I remember my grandma and mom making them for us,” said Morgan. “Somewhere down the line, I decided to ask my mom for the recipe.”

Indian tacos, sometimes referred to as Navajo tacos, are common in Oklahoma at fairs and festivals, but are not always accessible the rest of the year. There are even still a few Okies out there who have not had one.

“I was telling a client of mine about the Indian taco competition, and she had never had one,” Morgan said. “I told her it’s basically like a regular taco, almost like a taco salad, but on a very fluffy fried piece of bread.” 

The fluffy piece of bread is frybread, sometimes known as squaw bread, and has a subtle sweetness, reminiscent of a funnel cake or sopapilla.

“I like mine super fluffy, not too hard, with a little chew,” Morgan said. 

The frybread is topped with a mixture of ground beef and pinto beans, seasoned like a mild chili. Then, all the fixings are piled on—lettuce, tomato, onion, sour cream and chunky salsa. 

Though called an Indian taco, the dish is not traditional Native American fare in the pre-colonial sense. In fact, frybread has come to symbolize the resourcefulness of a people faced with adversity.

“When we were put on reservations, we were given things that we didn’t normally use—like flour, lard, milk,” said Morgan. “Our culture centered more on meats and grains. When they put us on the reservation, they gave us different stuff. Indian tacos came out of that.”

About six years ago, Morgan began hosting Indian taco brunches for her friends every few weeks at her home, acting as an ambassador and introducing many people to to the dish.  

“Some of my friends have said they’d never had Indian tacos before and they thought they were amazing, which makes me feel great. I feel like I gave someone a little of my culture.” 

After getting such positive response from friends and family, Morgan will be taking her special brand of Indian taco to the national championship.

“I usually go to the Indian taco championship with my family. We always taste what’s there and each year I walk away thinking ‘hmmm, I think I could do better,’” she said. “I take pride in not just the way the I make it, but in the ingredients I use. I try to use the best ingredients I can find. And there’s a lot of love in there, too.” 

To get herself in the right mindset for cooking, Morgan listens to tribal music or to A Tribe Called Red, a group of DJs from Ottawa, Canada that remixes traditional Pow Wow music with electronic music.

“The music helps get me in the mood,” Morgan said. “Making fry bread is an oddly sacred thing to me. It’s part of my heritage.”

For more from Angela, read her article on being a sommelier.