Vegetarian fajitas are Bonus Boy’s favourite family meal, no matter how many times I roll it out his eyes always light up and he declares ‘Oh fantastic, a treat meal!’ I think his love of it has a lot to do with the self service aspect of it; all those arms reaching over and sharing food out, plus it always appears when we’re on holiday so it has a real ‘big family’ feel to it. I like that it’s easy veggie fast food packed full of goodness with a treat on the side!

To Make Vegetarian Fajitas You Will Need:

(serves 6 but easily adaptable up or down)

2-3 flour tortillas per person (I usually cook 16 for us and hope Bonus Boy doesn’t decide he wants a third because he steals mine!)

For the Chilli Beans

3 tins red kidney beans in chilli sauce

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 tin chopped plum tomatoes

splash of olive oil

For the Spicy Stir Fry

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced

250g carrots, cut into matchsticks

½ a savoy cabbage, shredded

200g mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and finely chopped

½ a mild red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

splash of soy sauce

For the Salsa

3 tomatoes, chopped

½ a red onion, peeled and sliced thinly

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

The other ½ of that mild red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

A sprig or two of coriander, finely chopped

Juice of half a lime

salt and pepper to taste

To Serve

Grated cheddar

Shredded lettuce

Guacamole (of course you can make your own but on this occasion I bought a tub, it’s not as good as homemade but it’s not bad!)

Tortilla Chips

 

To Assemble

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Make the Chilli by frying the onion in oil until soft, adding the tinned beans and tinned tomatoes and simmering for 20 minutes until thick and gloopy

Make the Stir Fry by frying the veg in the olive oil for 5 minutes until bite tender, add the chilli, garlic, ginger and soy sauce and fry for a further minute. I fry the mushrooms separately because they are the only things Bonus Boy actively dislikes, serve his then mix the mushrooms in for the rest of us.

Make the Salsa by combining all the ingredients in a bowl

Cook the Tortilla according to packet instructions

Cook the Tortilla Chips by opening the packet, pouring the chips into an oven proof dish, sprinkling with a little cheddar, mixing it around a bit, sprinkling with a bit more and popping in the oven for 5 minutes et voila ‘Crisps for dinner Mummy?!’

Put everything into separate bowls so everyone can serve themselves to the bits they like and enjoy! I drizzle a bit of chilli oil over everything once I’ve served BB and my girl to spice it up a bit for the rest of us and I use whatever is in the fridge at the time for the stir fry. We had to teach them all how to fill a tortilla and roll it so nothing falls out (‘Fold up the bottom, fold in the sides, eat from the top not the bottom’) but now they are all experts! It’s fab for kids to have a hand in how they eat, choosing their fillings and eating with their fingers, this is real family friendly food!

Have you got a store cupboard standby which you roll out when time is tight?