Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

Lightly salted tortilla chips, topped with fajita spiced pulled “chicken” and vegetables, melted cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. As this is totally plant based, can I consider this a salad? Probably not, but you can’t blame me for trying. When it comes it eating this, things will probably get a bit messy, so just bear that in mind. I’d recommend something else if you’re wanting food for a first date, unless you’re savage, in which case go for it

For the fajita “chicken” and vegetables, you’ll need;

1. One teaspoon of oil
2. Two cloves of garlic, minced
3. One chilli pepper, minced (seeds removed for less heat)
4. One red onion, thinly sliced
5. One pepper, thinly sliced
6. 320g/11oz mock chicken (I used the no chick strips from Iceland)
7. Spice mix; half a teaspoon of the following; ground cumin, salt, smoked paprika. One quarter of a teaspoon of the both cayenne pepper and black pepper
8. One tablespoon of tomato puree
9. One 400g/14oz tin of chopped tomatoes

Method;

• Pop the oil into a frying pan over a medium heat, then add the chili and garlic, cook for a minute
• Next add the onion and pepper, give that a stir and give it another five minutes to cook. While that’s cooking, add the mock chicken onto a plate and microwave until cooked. You might not be able to do this with other mock meats, but with the no chick strips you can
• Once cooked, put the “chicken” into a mixing bowl and use two forks to shred it up. Once shredded, add it into the frying pan and stir it through
• Next, add the spice mix and tomato puree, give that a good mix to combine and then add the chopped tomatoes. Give it another 10 minutes to cook away, then remove from the heat

Next, assembly;

You’ll need;

1. Fajita “chicken” and veggies mixture you just made
2. 200g/7oz lightly salted tortilla chips
3. Dairy free cheese (use however much you fancy, I used about 100g/3.5oz)
4. Toppings of choice, I made a fresh tomato salsa and creamy guacamole (details below), then topped that with avocado, spring onion, sour cream, sriracha mayo drizzle and lime wedges

Method;

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper then evenly lay the tortilla chips on top
2. Spoon the fajita mixture on to the chips, try to distribute it as evenly as you can
3. Then just top with whatever cheese you enjoy. I used a 50/50 mixture of free from mozzarella and free from jalapeno and chilli cheddar, both from Tesco
4. Place under a warm (but not too hot) grill until the cheese melts, mine took just under ten minutes, just keep a bit of an eye on it
5. Then you can serve it as is, or add more toppings like I did, it’s totally up to you

If you want to make salsa and guacamole, this is how I made mine

For the salsa, you’ll need;

1. Two salad tomatoes, finely chopped, seeds removed
2. Half a red onion, minced
3. A pinch of cayenne pepper
4. Salt and pepper to taste

Just mix up well to combine and it’s ready to go

For the creamy guacamole, you’ll need;

1. The mashed flesh of two medium, ripe avocados
2. A quarter of a teaspoon of dried parsley, or coriander leaf
3. A teaspoon of sour cream
4. The juice of half a lime
5. Salt and black pepper to taste

Just like the salsa, all you need to do it mix to fully combine

A note; For the sour cream, I used creme fraiche by Oatly. Most supermarkets sell it, it’s in the chilled free from section. It worked really well as a substitute for sour cream