Recipe: Mexican fajitas

You know that I love a good Mexican meal. Sometimes I get stuck on our favourite chicken enchiladas and I completely forget about chicken fajitas. Chicken fajitas are quick and simple and are a great option when you have friends around as they are easy to share and each person gets exactly what they want. They are also a 'fresher' option with no cheese - although you could add some if you really wanted.

A griddle pan gives the nice, charred effect you want with fajitas, but you can also use a large pan or wok. If you use a griddle pan, keep the ingredients moving about so that nothing burns or sticks to the bottom.

MEXICAN FAJITAS
1 red capsicum 1 green capsicum
1 medium red onion
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 small pinch of ground cumin
2 limes
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

10 small flour tortillas, or 2 large
150 ml fat-free natural yoghurt

½-1 fresh red chilli, to your taste
15 ripe cherry tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh coriander
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 lime
extra virgin olive oil

½-1 fresh red chilli
a few sprigs of fresh coriander
1 ripe avocado
1 lime
Put your griddle pan on a high heat. Halve and deseed your pepper and cut it into thin strips. Peel, halve, and finely slice your onion. Slice your chicken lengthways into long strips roughly the same size as your pepper strips.

Put the peppers, onion, and chicken into a bowl with the paprika and cumin. Squeeze over the juice of half a lime, drizzle over a lug of olive oil, season with a good pinch of pepper and mix well. Put to one side to marinate for 5 minutes or so while you make your salsa.

Finely chop your chilli. Roughly chop your tomatoes and the coriander, stalks and all. Put the chilli and tomatoes into a second bowl with the salt and pepper and the juice of 1 lime, then stir in your chopped coriander.

Use a pair of tongs to put all the pieces of pepper, onion, and chicken into your preheated pan to cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the chicken is golden and cooked through. As the pan will be really hot, keep turning the pieces of chicken and vegetables over so they don't burn – you just want them to lightly chargrill to give you a lovely flavour.

To make the guacamole, finely chop up the flesh of an avocardo with ½ -1 red chilli and a handful of coriander leaves, including the top part of the stalks. Squeeze over the lime juice and chop everything together until fine. Taste and adjust the flavours, if needed.

Warm your tortillas up in a microwave or a warm dry frying pan. Divide your warmed tortillas between your serving plates. Halve your remaining lime and squeeze the juices over the sizzling pan.

At the table, carefully help yourselves to the chicken and vegetables straight from the hot grill pan. Just be sure to put it down on top of something that won't burn, like a chopping board. Serve with bowls of natural yogurt and guacamole alongside your lovely fresh salsa.

source : http://flickr.com, http://lintas.me, http://goodfoodweek.blogspot.com