Friday, June 29, 2012

Homemade Tortillas and Chicken Fajitas

Tonight I decided to tackle homemade tortillas since they seemed easy enough, and make chicken fajitas to go in them. Wow, was I surprised! The tortillas made a huge difference to the meal, and it made me feel better to eat something that had no chemicals or preservatives. They were definitely labor-intensive, but well worth it. I don't think I'll ever buy store tortillas again. This dinner was so delicious, and so filling! Here's a picture of the final product, and then I'll go step-by-step how I made it: 


Yum Yum! :)

First, here is a list of everything you will need for the complete meal:

  • 3 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 big roma tomato
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • fresh cilantro
  • 1 good-sized chicken breast, sliced
  • 1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper (I used yellow, because they were on sale!)
  • cumin
  • garlic powder
  • oregano
  • sour cream
  • extra flour for rolling dough
  • canola oil for the frying pan
  • one large frying pan or a griddle
  • a rolling pin

1. Tortillas:



The tortillas were the most time-consuming part of this meal, but it was worth it. I used this recipe for the tortillas, because it seemed the simplest that I found and I liked the fact that it used oil instead of butter or lard. 

First, I made the dough. Here's all my stuff! (Please ignore the jar of peach filling in the background... I promised my husband I'd make him cobbler at some point.) I'm ready to start:


Dry ingredients + oil + hot water:


After I whisked the dry ingredients, I added the oil and mixed with my hands until it was all crumbly. Believe it or not, I thought my hands would get oily, but they didn't! Then I added the hot water and mixed it up and shaped it into a ball:


I had to let it rest for 30 minutes, so I threw a towel over it and waited. While I was waiting, I made the pico de gallo, which I will explain later on. 

After my 30 minutes was up, I separated the dough into 12 smaller balls, and got out my rolling pin. The recipe called for a griddle, but since I didn't have one, I used my giant frying pan:

Worked just fine! :)

Next, I started rolling out the first dough ball. I discovered that a)rolling out dough is tough, and b)it's impossible to make a perfect circle, so here's the best I could do:

















It's important to make it as thin as possible and then carefully lay it in the dry pan on medium heat. After approximately 1 minute, after I saw bubbles rising in the dough, I flipped it over. It should have some dark brown spots:














I did the same on the other side, and then put it on a plate and placed a dry, clean kitchen towel over it. The towel helps them stay warm and soft. Then I made the other 11 tortillas. Granted, I messed up a couple of them, but I ended up with 9 great ones, and 3 okay ones, lol. Here's the finished stack:

If you look carefully, you can see the Pikachu face!!! ^_^













Tada!! Tortillas are done! I put the towel back over them to stay warm while I finished cooking everything else.


2. Pico De Gallo



I diced one roma tomato, a small bit of my onion (maybe 1/6 of it) and chopped some fresh cilantro. Here's what it looked like before I mixed it up and put it in the fridge:

















3. Chicken Fajitas



I wiped out my frying pan, and put it back on medium heat with some canola oil. I chopped my onion into chunky strips and threw them in the pan:



After cooking the onions until they were just starting get some brown spots, I pushed them to one side of the pan and threw in the chicken strips. Once the chicken was in the pan, I sprinkled in salt and pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and cumin. I didn't measure any of those out, but a couple pinches of each should do it. You can always add more if you want! 


While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up my bell pepper. When the chicken looked like the above picture (nothing raw anymore), I threw in the bell pepper slices. I also tossed in some fresh cilantro. I cooked it for about 3-4 more minutes, and then told my husband it was time to eat!


Yay! I am so happy with how this turned out, I will have to do it again!


Until next time,
J

8 comments:

  1. Ok so I actually have all the ingredients to make tortillas but I think I was intimidated. So this came at exactly the right time! Question...I've seen tortilla presses at the store here and I thought maybe that would make it easier but now I think maybe it isn't necessary. What do you think? I will use this recipe instead of the one with butter that I found. You're right, many I saw had lard and a few butter. Awesome--They look so yummy!

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    1. Yep, this dough is so easy!! I looked into getting a tortilla press, but from the reviews on Amazon it seems like they don't make the tortillas thin, and I like them thin. You absolutely don't need a press; all you need is a rolling pin, extra flour, and a flat surface. That way you can make them as thick or thin as you like. Let me know how they turn out! :)

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  2. Oh, it looks so delicious! Yummie:) Unfortunately I can't eat sour cream... Can I skip it or you something else instead?

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    1. You can totally skip it - it's just an added condiment that I like! ;)

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  3. Aside from the bell peppers (I'm allergic) that looks great!

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  4. I used to make my own fajitas too...of course that was before I discovered I was gluten sensitive..now I can't even do corn tortillas either because I am not sure how I react to corn and I'm trying to avoid it anyhow...but I still can enjoy fajitas...nothing better than the flavors of chicken, peppers, and onions! I actually want you to rethink using white flour (very very not good for you or your skin!) and canola oil (not so healthy oil and is probably GM.)

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    1. Thanks for the comment! I am so sorry to hear that you have a gluten sensitivity! I have a friend who has full-on Celiac disease and it has changed her whole life. As far as the white flour and oil -- I believe in everything in moderation. As long as I'm not eating it everyday for every meal, it's alright. I feel very lucky to not have any known reactions to foods, so I do not find the harm in indulgence once in a while! And home-cooked food is leaps and bounds better than restaurant or fast food, even with a few "unhealthy" ingredients. It's baby steps! You'll be happy to know that I have switched to whole wheat noodles and whole wheat bread instead of white! Let me have my tortillas, lol. By the way, I'm sure you already know, but everything is GM these days. There's really no way to avoid it unless you have a farm and your own gardens. Which is impossible in the desert, so I just can't spend the energy worrying about everything! :)

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