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.

Burritos with chicken and rice

Mexican food is pretty much the latest fad everywhere we go. Hipster bars are popping up all over the country. And since I find forking out $12 for a taco to be a bit excessive (especially when my man could chow down quite a few) I got myself a good Mexican cookbook and starting making a few recipes up.

The first thing I realised is – Mexican food is awesome! It’s fresh, has heaps of herbs and spices, and can be prepared super fast.

This recipe is one that has quickly shot to the top of the favourites list.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice

2 chicken breasts

1 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, diced

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 capsicum, diced

12 mushrooms, chopped

8 tortillas

Optionals for serving: grated cheese, sour cream, mashed avocado

Method:

Put the chicken breasts in a saucepan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Once cooked, lift it out of the pan and allow to cool on a plate.

Preheat the oven to 170C

Meanwhile, in a frypan, heat a little oil and add in the onion, cloves, garlic and oregano, frying for three minutes. Stir in the capsicum, mushrooms, rice and tinned tomatoes, and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes.

Wrap the tortillas in foil, and place in the oven  for about five minute, or place in the microwave for about a minute to soften.

Shred the chicken using two forks, then add it into the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the centre of each of the tortillas, folding both sides over the middle, ten folding over the remaining two sides to form a square-ish block. Use a toothpick to secure them in place. (NOTE: If you like things a bit cheesy, add a bit of grated cheese inside the tortillas and it’ll be all melty.)

Pop each of the tortillas on a tray as you make them and place them in the oven, keeping them warm.

Serve with the sour cream or avocado – also goes well with just a simple salad.

Mexican chicken pies

This was something of a one-pot wonder for when I couldn’t decide if I wanted a casserole, something spicy or something all vegetabled up! So I created this based on a Mexican recipe for burritos with chicken and rice.

This made quite a lot – enough for dinner for probably six or more, mainly due to the amount of rice I inadvertently cooked. 

Ingredients 

2 chicken breasts diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed/finely chopped

1 onion, diced

2 carrot, diced

½ zucchini diced

1 capsicum, diced

10 or so mushrooms, diced

2 chillies, chopped or equivalent in dried chili

½ teaspoon ground/minced ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground cloves

3 teaspoons dried oregano

1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste

2 tins diced tomato

2 cups rice, cooked

4 sheets pre-packaged pastry

Method

Heat frypan, add in garlic and onion.

After a couple of minutes, add in chicken.

When the chicken is sealed, add in the spices, vegetables and stir occasionally for a couple of minutes.

Add in the tomato paste and tinned tomatoes, and about 1 cup of water

Preheat oven to about 190C.

Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes until the flavours are developed.

Turn off the heat, add in the rice.

 Prepare the tins  (I made a couple of small party-pie tin sized ones, and one big pie)

Cook for about 20 minutes, until pastry is cooked and brown.