Fajitas

I’m going to give you my fajita recipe in both vegan and omnivore versions. It’s sort of a faux Mexican stir fry. The recipe serves two, but it cheerfully multiplies to feed an entire fiesta.

If you’re using free range/organic chicken or turkey breasts, bake them slightly (microwave two minutes or toaster oven bake 10 minutes) so you can easily slice them into quarter inch slices, and set them aside. Prepare one pound per two people. You can always eat the leftovers the next day.

If you’re using seitan (wheat gluten protein), it will probably come sliced already, but, if not, slice it in quarter inch slices. Again, one pound serves two.

Slice thin: One large or two small onions per two people, and one red bell pepper and one green bell pepper (or yellow or orange or purple), per two people. Chop finely one peeled clove of garlic.

In a large skillet or wok over a hot flame, place two tablespoons of sesame oil. When a drop of water sizzles if dropped into the oil, add the garlic and stir briskly with a spatula so that it browns but doesn’t burn. When it’s brown, add the onion slices and stir them until they are soft and translucent. Then add the pepper slices and continue to stir/fry the vegetables another five minutes. Last add the fowl or seitan slices, and stir/fry until the chicken or turkey slices are white all the way through (no pink) or the seitan is just heated through. Add Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or pink Himalayan salt to taste.

I like to serve fajitas as part of a taco bar, which is a lovely party dinner menu when you have picky eaters (like me) coming, because people can eat only the ingredients they can bear and ignore the rest.

My taco bar layout generally consists of: freshly made tomato salsa, Amy’s Organic Refried Beans with Green Chile (or your own recipe for refried beans), grated cheese, corn and/or wheat tortillas warmed on an ungreased skilled and kept warm inside a clean dish towel between two plates, pitted black olives, cut up avocado (or guacamole), freshly washed and spun organic romaine lettuce cut into quarter inch strips, and the fajitas.

How to cut up an avocado: Press slightly on the sides of the avocado to ascertain whether it is ready to eat. It should give slightly. If it doesn’t, let it sit for another day or two. If it’s very soft, it’s probably overripe. (But cut it open and check it out before you throw it out.) Cut the avocado in half from the stem stub to the bottom of the fruit and back, and twist and separate the halves. If you are only going to use half, save the half with the seed in it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you are going to use the whole fruit, cut both halves in this way: score the flesh like a tic-tac-toe, then use a spoon to remove the pieces of avocado from the shell. 

How to neatly remove the seed from the half avocado:  insert a sharp knife deeply into the seed, then turn the knife clockwise.  It should lift the seed from the avocado without leaving a mark on the flesh.