Sunday Samples Chicken Fahjitas

So today is the first of my Sunday Samples. It is another part of who I am. I love to cook. I have always cooked. It is one of the things I take alot of pride in, being able to throw something together that tastes really yummy. I am not a cook, I have never taken a class of a course to learn how to cook however growing up in a traditional household my Mum always thought it was very important to teach us girls how to cook. It's healthier, It's cheaper than eating out all the time and it's seriously enjoyable. I promise :)
Being a wife and a mum I thinks it's very important to be able to have home cooked meals every day and it is something that I will also pass on to my daughter when she is old enough. Although she is already helping when it comes to putting together her dinner. She gets the ingredients from the fridge and she helps to break eggs and mix things and she has also started helping me to flip her pancakes. For a two year old this is highly exciting. Chicken Fahjitas are one of my favourite things to cook. They are delicious and are seriously great for dinner parties and when we have friends over as they are quick to cook and leave people nice and full. I cooked this a few weeks ago and took the pictures to see how it turned out. Because of college and my exams I'm only getting the chance to do the post now. I really hope you enjoy.

Ingredients

5 Chicken Fillets cut into medium sized cubes

Half a green, red and yellow bell peppers, cut into cubes

An Onion choped finely and 2 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed

Take your pan, or wok and splash about a tablespoon of olive oil in and spread around the pan so the ingredients don't stick. Place on a high heat until the pan is hot and then add your onion. Coat all the onion in olive oil and reduce your heat to low and allow to cook for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Then add your peppers

Peppers added to pan

 Allow to cook for a couple of minutes until the peppers have slightly reduced in size. I don't like them to be too raw but others like to have a little crunch in their fahjitas so cook until you feel they are ready. Add your chopped mushrooms and allow to reduce.

Allow the veggies to be cooked, but not overcooked

Throw in your garlic and mix, Remove all ingredients from the pan after the garlic has cook for 1 minute. Any more than this and the garlic loses it's flavour and begins to burn. Remove all vegetables from the pan and Place in bowl for later. Take your chopped chicken and put into your pan on a medium to high heat. Add a little more olive oil if necessary. Toss your chicken until sealed/white all over.

Coat the chicken and allow to whiten all over

Take your spices, I use as you can see from the picture, Oregano, Garlic Granules, Hot Chili Powder, Cumin, Cayenne Chilli Pepper, Garlic Salt and Paprika. In our house we like it very hot and spicy but if your tastes aren't the same you can use a more mild chili powder or leave that out altogether if you wish. I don't use table salt or sea salt either, the garlic salt, I find is tasty enough and is literally my secret ingredient for everything.
Sprinkle each of your spices over the chicken and stir in until the chicken is fully coated. I don't have measurements either. I am so used to making it at this stage, I kind of just sprinkle and go.

The Spices

Once all the chicken has been coated it begins to infuse the flavours as it is cooking. Put your vegetables back into the pan. Add a large tablespoon of tomato puree and stir in to the mixture. Allow to simmer until the chicken is fully cooked. The way I test to see if it's fully cooked is I find the largest cube of chicken and cook in half. If the chicken is fully cooked it will be white throughout. It takes about 5-8 minutes

Allow to Simmer

Meanwhile, take your flour tortillas and heat. Whatever brand you buy will always have instructions on the back of the pack on how to prepare and heat them. Follow these instructions as every pack is different

Tortillas

As I have aid already, I am always cooking for a child. This means that every meal I prepare has to have a method to ensure my 2 year old can eat it. Beacuse the fahjitas are slightly messy for a child I prepare it slightly diffently on the tortilla. I take a the tortilla and place the chicken and veg on one side. I add a little sour cream so it's not too spicy for her and then place 2 slices of cheddar cheese on the mixture.

Preparing 2 year old friendly

I fold the tortilla over on itself and heat it until the cheese melts. This makes sure that the mixture stays in the tortilla when she's eating it. I slice it up once cool and she adores it.

Ready to Eat

Any additions to the fahjitas are all a matter of personal taste. We use iceberg lettuce cut into strips, sour cream and grated cheddar cheese.

Toppings

You can add other things like salsa and guacamole. I don't use these in the fahjitas as I find the tomato taste of the salsa can over power the taste of the spices and the chicken and i don't use guacamole as it can get super messy. However both salsa and guacamole are favourites in my house and are made quite regularly for other meals so I will in the future be posting my methods for them.

Final Product, ready to Enjoy

This is not an official recipe, it is my method on cooking fahjitas. They are one of my household's favourite dishes and always go down well. This method allows for 4 people to eat, 2 fahjitas each and Amina to have hers too. I hope you like it and sorry about the photos, I have an old camera, my kitchen is badly lit and I am most definitely not a photographer. Let me know if anyone tries it, I would love to know what you think.