When I first moved to Dubai, I was living in an Airbnb, which had limited kitchen utensils and lacked some of the bakeware and cookware that I was used to. As a result, I found we were getting a lot of takeaways and eating out ALL the time. Sounds dreamy, right? - you don't need to cook, hardly any washing up for my husband to do, huge choice of cuisines and dishes that I wouldn't cook at home. Well, after a while, I started to experience what I like to call "restaurant fatigue".
Restaurant fatigue is where you just want some home cooked food. Many takeaways lack a vegetable component, restaurants often have this issue as well, or they offer a limited and uninspiring selection of sides (think 3 different types of potatoes or a green salad to choose from), and where they do have a decent selection, half of the options end up being unavailable.
The other issue with takeaways, is the pure number of options. This is fine as a one off here and there, perhaps there's something you particularly fancy, or you have a favourite Thai place you like to order from. But when it's almost every day, you start to experience decision fatigue. All I want is a chili-con-carne that isn't just meat and wont blow my head off with spiciness!
So, back to the task at hand. I wanted to share this quick and easy fajita recipe with you that is perfect if you're new to cooking, or generally lack the time to cook from scratch. And, all you need is a chopping board, a knife and a roasting dish. Plus, you can make it fun for the kids by serving the components separately and they can build their own.
Ingredient Choices
You can use either thigh or breast meat for the fajitas, but make sure it's boneless, otherwise you'll have to faff around trying to get the meat off the bone before you serve. Thigh meat can be more flavoursome and juicy than breast meat and you can leave it to cook for a long time and it wont dry out. Breast meat is a bit easier to prepare. Just cut it into strips, but if you leave it cooking for too long it will dry out.
I like to use 3 different colours of bell pepper (capsicum). Firstly, it adds to the overall aesthetics of the dish, but also, each colour of pepper has a slightly different nutritional contribution. Yellow peppers have increased vitamin C content than green and red peppers have vitamin A, which the other colours lack. As a rule, it's a good idea to eat a colourful diet, as the colour of the fruit and vegetables often indicate differences in the vitamin and mineral content.
My preference is to use large, white tortilla wraps. However, these come in smaller size for children and you can get wholegrain and seeded versions too, for an extra healthy version.
Nutritional benefits
Vitamins - A, C, B2, folate, potassium, flavonoids, quercetin.
Quick and Easy Fajitas Recipe
What you'll need
Large roasting dish
Chopping Board
Large sharp knife
Spatula
Tongs (optional)
Ingredients (Serves 4)
Olive Oil
1 Large Onion sliced into strips
3 Bell Peppers/Capsicums sliced into strips
600g Boneless Chicken (thigh or breast)
1 Packet of Fajita Seasoning
1 Packet of Large Tortilla Wraps
Oven Temperature:
190 degrees centigrade
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees with the oven tray in the centre of the oven.
In the roasting dish, swirl around a bit of oil - I'd say around 4 tablespoons.
Slice the onion and scatter it over the base of the dish.
Slice the peppers and scatter them into the dish - discard the stalk and seeds.
Slice the chicken into strips and scatter it over the top of the veg.
Scatter the whole packet of seasoning over the top and drizzle over another few tablespoons of oil.
Using the spatula, mix and turn the ingredients around in the dish to get an even coating of seasoning and oil over everything. If you find this difficult, try mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl and then evenly spread it out onto the dish afterwards.
Pop the dish in the oven for 20 minutes. Give it a mix up - add a little more oil if any of it looks dry - and pop it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes (chicken should be cooked through and veg should be soft).
You can serve it as it is, but I like to warm through the wraps in a large frying pan to make them lovely and soft, ready for rolling. Don't leave them on the heat too long or they will go crispy and you'll find them harder to roll.
How to Roll a Fajita
Place the wrap on a flat surface or plate and put the fajita mixture in a line, making sure it's evenly distributed slightly off centre and with a slight gap at one end.
On the end where you have left a gap, fold over the edge of the wrap to cover the last little bit of chicken and veg. This stops it all falling out the bottom when you try to eat it.
Fold over the smaller side of the wrap over the mixture and tuck it right up close to the mixture on the other side, creating a sausage shape.
Tucking that edge under, keep rolling it over until the full wrap is complete. - Voila!
Extras
Jalapenos
Soured cream
Avocado/guacamole
Salsa/pico de gallo
Sweetcorn
Coriander
Lime Juice
For Younger Tummies
Use Small wraps.
Omit the fajita seasoning.
Serve all the ingredients separately, so the little ones can have fun creating their own.
Leftovers
If you have some leftovers you can just have it cold in a, unheated wrap the next day - it's easy to prepare the wrap in the morning and take it for lunch - make sure you keep it in the fridge.
If you're struggling to adjust to you new life abroad, get in touch, I'd love to hear from you!
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