Chicken fajitas

While we’re on the Mexican train, fajitas are a close second to the Chicken and Rice Burritos in our house.

It’s pretty simple – for those new to cooking Mexican from scratch, some of the ingredients might sound a bit weird, but just go with it! 

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

Grated rind and juice of two limes

2 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (skip this if you don’t want it too spicy)

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 onions, diced

3 capsicums of varying colour, sliced

Eight tortillas

To serve with:

Guacamole

Tomato, onion, basil salsa to serve

Sour cream

Method:

Slice the chicken breasts into strips

Mix up the lime, oregano, caster sugar, cayenne and cinnamon – put the chicken in here and mix well. Leave to marinate for half an hour.

If you’re planning to heat up the tortillas in the oven, preheat the oven now, and wrap the tortillas in foil. Pop them in when you start cooking the chicken. If you prefer to use the microwave, you can wit until the chicken mix is nearly done.

After the half an hour of marinating, heat a frypan with a little oil and cook the chicken for about five minutes, then add the onions and capsicums. Cook for another four or so minutes until chicken and veges are all cooked.

It’s ready to serve – the chicken mix in the tortillas with sour cream, guacamole and salsa – any combination of these, as simple or as complex as you like.

Boccincini, basil and tomato skewers

These little nuggets of deliciousness came out of an old “Women’s entertaining” cookbook, and they really are quite awesome. And easy, which makes them even better.

They look naughty and a little bit fancy but only take a couple of minutes to throw together, and can be as simple or complex as you like.

I opted for simple, as I was putting on a bit of a feast and just ran out of time to marinate the cheese, but if you have an hour spare to let it marinate, definitely give it a whirl.

This makes 6 short skewers (similar to the picture)

Ingredients:

9 cherry tomatoes, halved

4 boccincini balls, quartered

About 30 basil leaves

3 long wooden skewers, cut in half  (could also use toothpicks and just make shorter versions of these)

For the marinade

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh diced chives

1 tablespoon fresh diced parsley

A good crack of black pepper

Once the cheese is cut, coat them in the marinade for about an hour before putting on the skewers

Just thread everything onto the skewers in the order of tomato-basil-cheese-basil-tomato, and voila! They’re done.

So easy and really delicious.

Lamb koftas with yoghurt dipping sauce

This recipe makes about 10 reasonably big koftas, could always make smaller bite-sized meatballs.

Ingredients:

500g lamb mince

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 eggs

3 garlic cloves, crushed

½ onion, diced finely

2 teaspoons ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon cracked pepper

1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or chilli powder)

Mint – either 1 tablespoon dried mint flakes, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint or equivalent of the mint concentrate in tubes

Mix it all together in a big bowl, best done with your hands so really get into it.

Divide the mixture into 10 pieces, and roll each into a chunky log, flattened slightly.

These are best put on a tray and refrigerated for at least an hour prior to cooking to let it set better.

Cook in a frypan, the oven, on a grill or on the barbecue.

Yoghurt dipping sauce

½ cup plain greek yoghurt

½ Lebanese cucumber, grated and with the moisture squeezed out

3 tablespoons fresh mint, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Good crack of pepper and pinch of salt

Mix it all together in a bowl, taste-testing to make sure the balance is right.