One of our favorite dishes is frybread. It is delicious and can be dressed up with anything to suit anybody’s taste.

The only problem is that cooking an authentic frybread in a van can be difficult as it takes a lot of preparation and space.

Luckily, we have come up with a quick and easy alternative that allows us to enjoy one of our favorite dishes while on the road!

Prep/Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

3 Cups Vegetable Oil

4 Tortillas

Lettuce

½ Onion

1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes

1 Can of Black Beans

1 Can Refried Beans

Salt

Pepper

Instructions

Step 1: Place black beans and refried beans in separate pots on a stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally. Season black beans and refried beans any way you would like. We tend to add a tablespoon of cumin to our black beans and a couple of tablespoons of our vegan ranch dry rub to our refried beans.

**As we are limited to two burners, we use a small Instant Pot. We cover the insert of the Instant Pot with aluminum foil and then make a barrier dividing the Instant Pot into two semi-circle sections which allows us to cook multiple items without them mixing together. **

Step 2: Wash tomatoes and onion in warm water to remove any debris or wax that might be on them from the supermarket.

Step 3: Coarsely chop the onion into bitesize pieces. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Step 4: Cut cherry tomatoes in halves, lengthwise. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Step 5: Wash shredded lettuce in cold water. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Step 6: Put 3 cups of vegetable oil in a large frying pan or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F.

** Our cast-iron skillet needs approximately 3 cups of vegetable oil to successfully fry the tortillas, please note that depending on the size of the pan or skillet that you are using, this could change. Essentially, you need enough oil so that the tortillas float to allow for even cooking. **

Step 7: Once your oil has reached 350 degrees F, carefully place a tortilla shell into the oil. Let the tortilla sit in the oil for approximately 90 seconds (or until golden brown) before flipping it.

Once both sides are evenly fried, remove from oil and set on a plate lined with paper towels to cool.

** 350 degrees is optimal for frying tortillas. If your oil is too cold, the tortillas will soak up the oil resulting in a greasy frybread. If the oil is too hot, you will burn your frybread. **

Step 8: Wait for oil to return to 350 degrees F and repeat step 6 until all of your tortillas are cooked.