Volume 23, Number 12: December 2022

Delicious! Delicioso! Délicieux! Läckert! Köstlich! ???! ??????!

Frito Pie

Submitted by Katherine Pettus
IAHPC Senior Advocacy and Partnerships Director

Frito Pie is a staple of school fundraisers in the US state of New Mexico, where I raised my three boys and lived on and off for more than 20 years. The basic version is made with ground meat—beef, pork, turkey, venison, or a blend—mixed with chile, preferably New Mexico red (powder) or green (roasted and peeled), fried with onions, garlic, and oregano (or not) and then topped with a salad mixture, grated cheese, and raw onions. Vegetarians can replace the meat with beans. 

When made at home, Frito Pie begins with a handful of Fritos corn chips in a single-serving bowl. At Frito Pie concession stands I have worked at, the meal is made and sold in individual Frito bags, which serve as bowls. Our household of growing boys and their friends looked forward to Frito Pie Fridays, serving themselves from a crockpot of chile and party-sized bags of chips at one end of the countertop, with an array of toppings at the other end. The red chile version, below, is more accessible than one made with roasted fresh green chiles. I don’t know if Fritos are sold where you live, but you can use any tortilla chips. When my sister was ill and bedbound in her last years, it was a real treat for us to sit and eat Frito Pie together.

Frito Pie

(Serves 5-6. Add beans to extend the quantity.)

Ingredients 

• 2 onions, chopped (I like the sweet ones): one for frying, one for topping
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 lb. ground meat 
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 heaping Tbsp. flour
• 1 cup water or stock
• 3 heaping Tbsp. powdered red chile (mild, medium, or hot depending on taste. I use medium.)
• (if using the vegetarian option) 1 or 2 cups canned or cooked beans, preferably pinto or Anasazi
• 2 pinches oregano, fresh or dried (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste. 
• 1 or 2 large bags corn chips, preferably Fritos
• Shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, chopped fresh cilantro
• Grated cheese (a Monterey Jack/cheddar mix works well)

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a pan on low. Add and soften 1 chopped onion and garlic, if using. Add the meat and cook until brown. Add the flour to make a roux (paste). 
2. When the oil has absorbed the flour (don’t let it burn!) stir in the chile powder until the consistency is smooth. 
3. Gradually add water or stock to the roux until it thickens, then bring it to a slow simmer, making sure to get the lumps out of the flour and chile powder as they mix with the liquid. 
4. Add the beans, if using. Simmer the mixture gently for 10-15 minutes, adding pinches of oregano and seasoning to taste. I then put it all in a crockpot to keep warm and be available throughout the day for all comers. 
5. To serve: Put a handful of Fritos in a single-serving bowl, ladle on a scoop of chile, top with lettuce, tomato, cilantro, raw onions, grated cheese, and enjoy! Savor the variety of textures and flavors that sneaks in all the food groups. 

Cook’s note: Frito Pie can also be made as a baked casserole. The variations are infinite!

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List of Members

A list of individuals who joined, or renewed their membership with, IAHPC during the past month.

Membership renewals

Name	Country
Lorena Patricia Etcheverry	Argentina
Ramoncito Yacab	Belize
Zemilson Batos Brandão Souza	Brazil
Gregorio Zuniga Villanueva	Canada
Kevin Bezanson	Canada
Alicia Krikorian	Colombia
Bilena Molina	Colombia
Diana Catalina Velilla Echeverri	Colombia
Omar Gomezese	Colombia
Paola Marcela Ruiz Ospina	Colombia
Julio Rojas	Costa Rica
Maria Brenes	Costa Rica
Maria Cristina Cervantes Velez	Ecuador
Alexander Armando Arita Alfaro	El Salvador
Cecilia Elizabeth Menjivar Deras	El Salvador
Jose Mario Lopez Saca	El Salvador
Myriam Rios Fundación Ammar Ayudando	Guatemala
Chitra Venkateswaran	India
Latha Sneha	India
Priti Sanghavi	India
Shiv Pratap Singh Rana	India
Batsheva Ziff-Werman	Israel
Esther Nafula Wekesa	Kenya
Yoke Ling Choo	Malaysia
Bernardo Villa	Mexico
Elena Espin Paredes	Mexico
Guillermo Arechiga	Mexico
Jorge Alberto Ramos Guerrero	Mexico
Sabrina Breton Cervera	Mexico
Nisla Camaño	Panama
Christian Ntizimira	Rwanda
Frank Manase	Tanzania
Antonia Kamate Tukundane	Uganda
Mary Bunn	United Kingdom

New members

Name	Country
Sandra Schvetz	Argentina
Juliana Gibello	Brazil
Fernando Xavier Silva	Canada
Leonie Herx	Canada
Dioselina Negrete	Colombia
Johanna Ceciliano Moreira	Costa Rica
Marcela Bermudez Aguero	Costa Rica
Betty Fey Espinoza	Ecuador
Diana Carolina Lombeida	Ecuador
Gretel Nathalie Lerque Portes	Ecuador
Sandra Marisol Soto Nole	Ecuador
Doris Carolina Landaverde Hernandez	El Salvador
Jose Mario Lopez Saca Fundación de Medicina Paliativa del Salvador - Paliamed	El Salvador
Shaleen Kumar	India
Hibo Ibrahim	Kenya
Denise Hernández	Mexico
Fabiola Dominguez Ramirez	Mexico
Faride Chejne Gomez	Mexico
Jorge Guajardo Rosas	Mexico
Jessica Enith Gomez Flores	Panama
Julissa Cuesta	Panama
Gonzalo Jaime Delgado Zegarra	Peru
Rowena Marie Samares	Philippines
Z. Zeynep Selvili	Türkiye
Donna Fahey	United States

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See the full list of IAHPC members

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