FLAVOURFUL FAJITAS

Another Mexican inspired dish for you! Fajitas is up there as one of my favourite Mexican specialties, but whenever I eat mexican cuisine at a restaurant I have trouble ordering them as they usually arrive on a plate with bucket loads of grease and taste only of heavy cheese. This recipe below is light and the tomato salsa makes the dish taste extremely fresh. The spices added to the chicken give it a delightful kick. I have found that marinating the spices with the chicken for a small amount of time prior to cooking the chicken increases the flavour.

INGREDIENTS


TOMATO SALSA

• 1 small red salad onion (100-120g), finely chopped
• 350g tomato, roughly chopped into cubes
• 100g cucumber, roughly chopped into cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

FAJITAS

• 1 medium red capsicum (300-350g), deseeded and finely sliced
• 1 medium brown onion (150-200g), finely sliced
• 450g chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin 
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4-8 soft flour tortillas, any brand or flavouring. (gluten-free are preferred). 

AVOCADO TOPPING

• 1 avocado, peeled with the stone removed and diced.
• pinch of sea salt & ground black pepper
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon lime juice 

COOKING

1. Place the chicken and spices (cumin, ground coriander, paprika and oregano) in a bowl and mix well. Leave to marinate for a while. 

2. Combine all the ingredients for the tomato salsa in a bowl. Refrigerate for around 30 minutes. 

3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the brown onion and capsicum and stir-fry for around 4-5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.  Add the marinated chicken to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is coloured and just cooked (that is, no pink flesh of the chicken can be seen). 

4. Optional- wrap the tortillas in aluminium foil and heat in an oven of around 200 degrees celsius for 5 minutes or so. NOTE- I found that I was able to skip this step if you serve the chicken mixture warm.

5. Mash all the ingredients of the avocado topping together so that it forms an almost smooth paste. This seems to work better with a fork. 

6. Spoon a decent amount of the chicken mixture into the middle of a tortilla. Place a few tablespoons of the tomato salsa on top, followed by 1 tablespoon or so of the avocado topping. Serve warm. 

Recipe adapted from ' 200 Low Fat Dishes' from Hamlyn cookbooks. 

x E