I’ve given up on finding good Mexican food in the UK.

Time and time again, a well-meaning British colleague or friend suggests I try this or that “Mexican” restaurant, promising that it won’t disappoint me. Like an innocent child, I naively embrace their suggestion and sit down at the restaurant with an open mind.

By the end of it, I become disappointment incarnate. It’s an exhausting and depressive act that I refuse to participate in any longer.

There are many things wrong with the British interpretation of Mexican food, starting with the fact that the restaurant Wahaca™, which seems to be the pinnacle of British-Mexican food, should be spelt Oaxaca. I could go on, but questions of culinary authenticity are touchy and sensitive subjects, fraught with cultural and political implications.

What is Mexican food? Is Tex-Mex or Calimex categorically different? Who gets to determine what is authentic and what isn’t? Not me, that’s for sure. But none of this changes the fact that the dishes I miss back home are tacos, burritos, and fajitas.

Turns out that fajitas are surprisingly easy to make in your own home. And I’m not talking about the Old El Paso fajita kits that exist on both sides of the Atlantic. I mean the sizzling, marvellous spectacle that gets brought out to your table about the time you’ve started on your second or third extra-large Dos Eques Amber beer at your favourite neighbourhood Mexican restaurant back home in the States. You can make restaurant-style fajitas from your own kitchen.

Marinading in advance is optional. The real flavour comes from the peppers and onions.

Restaurant-Style Chicken Fajitas

Señor Dickman

Served tableside sizzling. Can be made in an hour and marinading is not required!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Calimex, Mexi-Cali, Mexican, Texmex

Servings 2

Equipment

• Large cast iron skillet
• Knife

Ingredients

  

• 500 g chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
• 2 bell peppers, julienned (cut into medium strips)
• 2 jalepenos, julienned
• 1 onion, orbitally sliced (medium thickness)
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 limes (to be juiced)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or any flavourless, high smoke point oil)
• 3 tbsp tequilla or beer (Corona, Tecate, etc.) As long as its a lager beer

For serving

• Flour tortillas warmed in the microwave
• Sour Cream or Greek Yoghurt
• Iceburg lettuce, thinly cut
• Salsa
• Hot Sauce (see end of recipes for suggestions)

Instructions

 

Marinading (Optional to do it in advance)

• Up to 6 hours before serving, put the sliced chicken breasts in a bowl and add the cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt, and the juice of 1 lime. Mix well and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Cooking

• Heat your oven to 100ºC (175ºF)
• Get out your cast iron pan and put it over high heat. Add oil once hot and then sear the chicken for 3-5 mins on each side, until chicken no longer sticks to the pan and has a deep golden-brown sear.

  Cook the chicken in batches and do not crowd the pan because this will steam the chicken.

  When each batch is finished, put it on an oven-safe plate and cover with tinfoil and place in warm oven.
• When all the chicken is cooked, place a bit more oil into the pan. Add the onions and peppers all at once. Cook for 5-7 mins, stirring regularly until peppers and onion have a char to them.
• Add all the chicken back to the pan, ensuring heat is still high. Stir regularly for 5-7 mins. Add tequilla/beer to the pan. This should sizzle and steam. Stir for another 1-2 mins.

  Serve immediately from pan.

Keyword Chicken Fajitas, Mexican, Restaurant Fajitas, Tex-Mex, Texmex

More on Fajitas, Mexican Food and all that jazz

For starters, what even is Mexican food? Who gets to determine what Mexican food is? Is Tex-Mex its own cuisine? Is it possible that what I actually miss isn’t authentic Mexican, but Americanised Mexican? David Chang produced two seasons worth of food documentary episodes exploring concepts of authenticity. People tend to gatekeep their ideas of food, employing variations on the No-True-Scottsman fallacy.

(The show is decent btw, you can catch up on it in case you haven’t on Netflix)

But regardless of whether or not these sorts of fajitas are in any way authentic or whatever, they are really good and one of the most effective cures for homesickness.

We actually bought a genuine fajita cast iron pan from Sous Chef because we make these so much, but it’s rather small, serving only one. I intend to acquire another one.

Finding Mexican Ingredients to make Fajitas at home (in the UK)

If you enter any supermarket in the UK, you can be sure to find some Old El Paso-branded products. While we occasionally resort to their tortilla wraps in emergency situations, we rather buy more flavourful and less commercial products. One might even say, cheekily, more authentic ones.

A few websites that became our go-to for Mexican ingredients are:

• Sous Chef (general): as mentioned previously, we bought our cast iron pan from them, but they are an excellent choice if you’re looking for ingredients as well. Green tomatillos, blue corn tortillas, corn husks, chipotles in adobo sauce, you name it. They have a very good stock if you’re not looking for anything too mysterious and it’s definitely worth giving it a try. We can definitely recommend this El Yucateco sauce: every single time we buy it, it just disappears in a matter of days.
• MexGrocer: the name says it all. From seasonings to mezcal, MexGrocer is your go to if you want to place a big, big order of Mexican ingredients. They also sell another excellent hot sauce and you can easily stock up on it.
• Mestizo Market: based in Hampstead Road for those of you that would rather walk into a shop than order online, Mestizo is one of the most famous Mexican restaurants in London. They have an impressive catalogue of ingredients, from chillies to sweets, and it’s quite hard for us to not place an order right now if we’re being honest.

As for all things, Mexican ingredients take practice to master. It has to be hot, but not making you lose your tastebuds. Lime, coriander, and tomatoes are key. But most importantly, freshness.