Sizzling Chicken Fajitas, Grilled Peppers, Salsa, Rice & Beans

Hello lovely, 

here I am with another recipe, long-ago cooked, never posted. 
This winter break is killing me in the sense of work. I cannot bring myself to it!
All I do is sleep and eat, and not even food I made! It's outrageous...outrageously yummy. 
Oh but I have forced myself to execute this task, though still in bed, but I am a strong believer in baby steps, and this is my first one. 

A couple of days ago I needed a recipe to use up some ingredients I had at home, and this seemed to be it:

I somehow feel that Jamie overdoes it with pots and pans and processes he takes the food through. Or at least how he put the cookbook together. When I watch him, I see how everything he does is by chance, from experience. That must be extremely hard to then turn into recipes with measurements, hence the confusion. 

The little rant aside, I started the meal off with soaking the dried chili in some boiling water, which didn't really help, probably because I didn't tear it apart, I left it in one piece. 

In the processor, I put spring onions, tomato, coriander stalks, chili, balsamic and soy sauce and set aside to let it absorb into each other I guess. 

I then cut my meat up into the desired size, after I removed any nasty bits I didn't want to grill. I tossed it with salt, pepper and sweet paprika and set aside. 

I then prepared the peppers and red onion for the grilling, and seasoned them with salt and pepper. The reason I wasn't doing anything concrete is because Jamie uses pre-cooked brown rice, which I don't think even exists in Croatia. 

Furthermore, the one I used is some sort of bio brand, which took even longer to cook.  And I certainly didn't want my rice to be cold or even worse, not done by the time everything else was, so I had to coordinate everything with my rice. 

When it was half-way through (the rice I mean), I grilled the peppers and onions and set aside near the heat. 

I then proceeded to drain the beans and "fry" with some cumin seeds (the more the better) and chili. Mine didn't "crisp up" as Jamie says, they started falling apart and turning to mush. But by then the rice was done and drained, so I just mixed it all up in the bean pan and took it off the heat. 

Oh, and when making the rice, I used some Vegeta on it (a Croatian spice mix) since Jamie used pre-cooked rice and he didn't suggest anything else. Just so you don't think my rice was bland. 

I then put my meat on the grill pan with one tablespoon of oil. 

I like my meat well done so it was on until it was very dark, and during that I whizzed the contents of the processor to get a crazy spicy salsa which didn't resemble Jamie's the tiniest bit. Ask me why, not. 

My meat was done, and I planned on warming the tortillas up on the same pan, but the long grilling turned everything on the bottom black, and the oil was looking sad and no longer useable. So I took my pancake pan out and warmed them up just below the point when they would start crisping up, which we don't want because then they cannot be folded nicely. 

I don't have a board as big as Jamie so I had to use my previously featured round one, which also meant I had to alter the design of the meal slightly, which I don't like doing. 

 I did crumble feta and dollop yoghurt on though, which Jamie so famously loves doing!

My favorite part was probably the bean-rice, probably because rice is my favorite carb and the cumin beans just tasted superb when you came across the surprise in your mouth. 

A meal which is full of taste and looks hard to make, I chose it as a leftover meal.

To achieve this recipe, you will need:

 *Ingredients out* Kettle boiled * Liquidizer* Griddle pan, high heat* Medium frying pan, medium-high heat* Large pan, medium heat*

Serves 4, 610 calories 

Ingredients 

Salsa

1 dried smoked chipotle or ancho chili 

2 spring onions 

1 ripe large tomato

1/2 bunch of fresh coriander 

1 fresh red chili 

2 limes

2 tsp balsamic vinegar 

1 tbsp low-salt soy sauce 

Fajitas

2 mixed-color peppers 

1 red onion

2 x 200g skinless chicken breasts 

1 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika, plus extra to serve 

olive oil 

Rice & beans

1 x 400g tin of mixed beans 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds 

1 fresh red chili 

1 x 250g pack of cooked brown rice 

1 lemon 

To serve 

 4 wholemeal flour tortillas 

4 tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt 

20g feta cheese 

Start cooking 

Tear the dried chili into the liquidizer and just cover with boiling water to rehydrate. Trim and add the spring onions with the tomato, coriander stalks, fresh chili, juice of 1 lime, the balsamic and soy sauce, pop the lid on and leave to sit. Remove the stalks and seeds from the peppers, then tear up and place on the griddle pan. Peel, quarter and add the red onion, season  with salt and pepper, then let it char nicely all over. 

On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with salt, pepper and the paprika. Fold over the paper, then bash and flatten the chicken to 1,5 cm thick with a rolling pin. Put into the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, turning after 3 or 4 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Drain and rinse the beans, then put into the large pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, the cumin seeds and the whole fresh chili. Toss regularly for a couple of minutes until the beans are crispy-skinned. 

Whiz the contents of the liquidizer until smooth, then pour into a little serving bowl. Stir the rice and the juice of 1 lemon into the beans to warm through. Transfer the charred veg to a board, then merely warm the tortillas on the griddle pan. Slice the chicken and serve with the charred veg, rice and beans, tortillas and lime wedges. Dollop yoghurt over the veg, then sprinkle everything with crumbled feta and the coriander leaves. 

Note: This recipe was taken straight out of the cookbook, my version is written above. 

Bon Appétit!