“AIEEEEEEE!”
Her victory cry shot out over the crowd like a well-aimed bottle rocket launched from an ornery older brother’s hand.
Ramona ‘Monie’ Horsechief dashed to the stage, skipping and dancing the entire way, to join her sister Lisa Pahsetopah behind the microphone.The sisters had just been announced the winners of the 2009 World Champion Indian Taco Contest in Pawhuska, Okla. Monie took the prize for best traditional taco and Lisa won for best dessert taco.
Monie covered her fry bread in buffalo meat chili and added lettuce, cheese and homemade pico de gallo. For her dessert, Lisa filled her fry bread dough with cream before frying it in the hot grease. She topped the confection with caramelized pecans, fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream.
When asked about her ingredients, she said laughingly, “I know Indians love sugar, sugar, sugar!”
Monie was especially proud of her win. Not only was it her biggest cash prize ever, it was the achievement of a goal.
“It seemed that I worked myself up the winning ladder every year. This last year was my third year to enter. I started out the first year in 2006 in third place, second place in 2007, and finally 2009 I won first place,” Monie said.
A double-threat, the sisters started their own cooking business, Two Sisters Catering, to bring in more money to support their ministry efforts. Monie and her husband travel with One Spirit Praise, a Native American Christian music ministry. Monie, who has more than 20 years of cooking and culinary school experience, provides the food for their events.
“I feel that the Lord has blessed me with the skill and talent of cooking. In realization of that, I do everything in cooking, to the best of my ability because that is a blessing from the Lord. It is all prepared with love,” Monie said.
Lisa, who performs with her husband and daughter in a Native dance troupe, said she started making fry bread about 28 years ago.
“I didn’t make it too often because they turned out like frisbees. It took about 20 years to get it up to par where I could lay claim to it and say, ‘I made that,” she said.
Six years ago, Lisa introduced fry bread as part of Native culture during her family’s educational presentations at schools. She had been watching Tammy Fields, her sister-in-law, cook for two years and was finally ready to perfect her own.
“Tammy was listed some years past by Native American Times as one of Oklahoma’s favorite Indian cooks. She wouldn’t ever give her secrets, but boy I would sure stand close and watch and take notes,” Lisa said.
Lisa also credits her sister, saying, “the last four years, Monie’s fry bread has been fantastic… Since we started working together doing catering as Two Sisters Catering, I have learned from the best.”
Both sisters, who learned to cook from watching their grandmother, plan to continue developing their catering venture and entering contests, knowing others love their food.
The reason for their success? They work well together. “She makes the best fry bread; I make the best chili,” Monie said.
Neither sister will divulge their recipe for great fry bread, but both agree – it’s how you work the dough.
For more information on Two Sisters Catering, call Ramona Horsechief at 405-209-1206 or e-mail
“I feel that the Lord has blessed me with the skill and talent of cooking. In realization of that, I do everything in cooking, to the best of my ability because that is a blessing from the Lord. It is all prepared with love,”
– Monie Horsechief, left, with sister Lisa Pahsetopah at the 2009 World Champion Indian Taco Contest in Pawhuska, Okla. PHOTO BY LISA SNELL