Native foods will be part of Saturday’s event

Vivian Jackson has made enough fry bread that she doesn’t need to put much forethought or planning into making it anymore.

“I don’t do any measuring,” she said. “I just know what goes into it and it’s just all-purpose flour.”

Well, there’s one other ingredient that goes into the mix, she concedes: a lot of love.

Jackson annually has prepared and served fry bread at the Powwow hosted by the Quechan Nation and the Strong Heart Native Society, and she’ll do so again at this year’s Pow-wow that opens Friday.

Fry bread is one of the most popular attractions among visitors at the Pow-wow, said Faron Owl, who coordinates the annual event, and several booths will be offering the staple of native cuisine again this year.

And from booth to booth, he added, fry bread varies, with some being soft and pliable, and some left frying longer in oil, creating a crispier texture.

Fry bread can be folded and filled with beef, beans, lettuce, tomatoes and other ingredients to create a Native American taco, said Jackson, or it can be eaten plain.

Or, she said, it can be served dessert style — slathered with honey or powdered sugar or butter and cinnamon.

Jackson will also be among the vendors serving Indian stews, an- other favorite among people who attend the Pow-wow. And each vendor has his or her variation of stew.

In Jackson’s case, she’ll be serving a potato stew made from a recipe she learned from her mother.

She peels the potatoes, cuts them into cubes and cooks them through in a pot on the stove, turning down the heat before they can become mushy and fall apart. Ground beef goes into the mix, with enough fat content to provide flavoring, plus onions and tomato sauce.

This year she’ll also serve green chile stew. “Me being from New Mexico, I use nothing but Hatch green chiles,” said Jackson, who grew up on the Acoma reservation near Albuquerque and came to the Yuma area several years ago.