Tex Mex with Gambardeli’s meat-free strips

 In Recipes

Gambardeli’s Strips and Peppers Fajitas

Tex Mex recipe for your meat-free Mondays or every days!  Quick, simple and delicious!

I read a report that suggested the most popular cuisine in the UK at the moment is Mexican.  That prompted me to write my recipe for Gambardeli’s strips Fajitas.

You can either use a commercial Fajita Smokey Seasoning or mix your own spices.  The first ingredient on the commercial mixes tends to be sugar.  This indicates that sugar is a major ingredient in the pack.  The pack that I looked at stated the amount of sugar for 1/4 of the pack as 4 gms.  This means that in the whole pack there is about 16 gms of sugar – about 3 tsps. Shared between 4 people brings the amount of sugar for each person to just less than 1tsp.  If you’re happy with that then you can go ahead and use it.  

Otherwise you can mix your own blend and add a sweetener to your taste whether you prefer brown sugar or perhaps Maple Syrup or Agave Syrup.  Maybe you just use less sugar. The beauty of making your own recipe is that you can choose your ingredients and adjust them to suit your taste.

Ingredients serves 2 adults:

1 pack of Gambardeli’s strips

2 TBs oil of your choice (I like coconut oil)

1 onion cut into thick strips

2 – 3 Mixed Bell Peppers, I like to use red, yellow and orange Peppers in this, deseeded and cut into thin strips.

Spice mix 1 pack commercial Smoky Fajita Seasoning and skip to the method.

OR make your own!

Home-made spice mix

Ingredients;

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 garlic clove crushed

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

pinch (1/8 tsp) black pepper ground

1/2 tsp sea salt

A few drops of ginger juice (grate a thumb sized piece of ginger root and squeeze out the juice) optional

1 tsp Sweetener of your choice – brown sugar, agave, maple syrup.

After you have mixed the spices together, add the sweetener.  If you’re adding sugar, try starting with 1 tsp and add more if desired to suit your taste. Maple Syrup is good in this recipe as its quite rich. Agave Syrup seems appropriate as it comes from the same area of the world. However,the lighter sweet taste of the agave may mean that more agave is needed.

Method

First fry the Gambardeli’s strips in 1Tbs oil and 1Tbs spice mix for a few minutes.

Next either remove the Gambardeli’s strips and keep warm or use another pan.  To the hot pan add 1TBs of the oil, the onions and sauté them for a few minutes. Then add the sliced Bell Peppers and 1Tbs of the spice mix to the pan.  Remember to taste as you go to adjust the seasoning.  If you like more heat then perhaps add a pinch of chilli powder.

Finally remove the Gambardeli’s strips and peppers from the heat and serve.

I served the Gambardeli’s strips and peppers in a choice of corn tortillas, corn tacos,  wholewheat stand ‘n’ stuff soft tortillas, salad with the sides of Pico de Gallio, Guacamole and soured cream – vegan of course.  See below for my recipes.

Pico De Gallio Recipe

Ingredients;

1 tomato cubed

1 clove of garlic crushed

1/2 bunch of coriander leaves (or flat leaf parsley) finely chopped

1/4 red onion finely diced

pinch sea salt

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 small red or green chilli (opt) finely diced

Method

Mix together  all of the ingredients and allow to stand for a few minutes before serving at room temperature.  This needs to be made just before serving.

Guacamole Recipe – simple

Ingredients:

1 ripe, soft avocado

Juice 1 lime

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

Method

First step is to remove the flesh from the avocado and dice roughly.  Add the lime juice, salt and pepper.

For a more complex and authentic Guacalmole, you can add:

1 thinly sliced spring onion,

1 finely diced red or green chilli,

1 tomato flesh only finely diced

A few coriander leaves

However, I like to keep it simple as I’m serving it with the Pico de Galio which has those ingredients in it already.

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

1c cashews soaked  for 4 hours or overnight and drained (You can heat the cashews in hot water for 10 minutes instead of soaking them.)

1/4 c lime juice topped up to 1/4 c with apple cider vinegar (or only 1/4 c lime juice)

1/2 c water

1tsp onion  dried flakes

1.2 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp maple syrup

Method

First blend all ingredients together in a blender.

Next check seasoning to suit your taste and blend until its smooth.  Store in the refrigerator.  (The sour cream will thicken in the refrigerator)

Top tip

Add some fresh finely chopped herbs to the sour cream to make a delicious salad dressing.

 

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