Chicken Fajitas w/ Homemade Tortillas + Mexican Rice

Hi, everyone!

I made another family favorite meal tonight, fajitas + rice + tortillas. The rice is usually made by my aunt, but I felt pretty bold and made it instead...it came out fantastic! It was the perfect addition to our meal. Plus, our tortillas are usually store-bought from HEB, but since I was going all out with the rice, might as well make the tortillas, lol. So, here's what you need:

Fajitas:

A pack of HEB boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Tortillas:

3 c. all-purpose flour, plus some extra for counter and rolling pin

1 tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted, mixed with the water (mentioned below) ↓

1 c. water

Mexican Rice:

3 c. long grain enriched white rice

a splash of Vegetable Oil

6 1/2 c. water

2 tbsp. tomato bouillon w/ chicken flavor

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The fajitas take the longest, so I recommend starting those first! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and defrost your chicken for 10 minutes while you wait. After that, you're going to get a sheet pan and line it with aluminum foil. Grab an extra sheet to cover it when baking. Then you're going to put your fajitas on the pan. No need to season it, they're pre-seasoned and are PACKED with flavor.

Cover tightly with the extra sheet of aluminum foil and put in the oven. Check your fajitas every now and then. About after 30 minutes, uncover the chicken and let it cook without a covering for the rest of the time. Mine took 1 hour and 20 minutes. But, apparently, our oven is pretty powerful, lol. So, cook time varies as well as how cooked you want your fajitas!

To check if your fajitas are finished, slice a piece off and check the inside of it. Your fajitas should be smooth like butter when cutting if they're very juicy and tender. After taking them out, let them cool for a few minutes. I like to slice mine when serving and place them in a bowl. 

While cooking your fajitas, you can make your tortillas. They are very quick and easy! You'll need to get a large bowl and pour your ingredients all together. Mix with your hand until you get a nice ball of dough. It gets a little messy but everything will come together in the bowl, I promise! Then cover it with plastic/saran wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes. Make sure to save the piece of plastic you used, you'll need it in the next step!

After letting it sit, take it out of the bowl and knead it for a few minutes. Then, roll out equal size balls of dough. This is my third time making these and every time I got 10 balls of dough out of it. Next, you'll place the balls of dough back into the bowl and cover them with plastic and let them sit for another 10 minutes. While waiting, get a flat pan out to heat your tortillas and set your stove to medium heat, to preheat. Also, flour your rolling pin and counter to prep the area for rolling.

Now after the 10 minutes, you're going to roll out each tortilla. This is the only "hard" part of this recipe. Try to roll them into a circle. It took me a couple of tries to get a semi-perfect circle, lol. You'll want your tortillas thin and around 10 inches when rolled out. I stacked mine on a plate before transferring them to the stove. Next, you'll place one tortilla on your pan. Flip whenever you see bubbles form, it was around 4 seconds for me. Then let it sit for a few more seconds. Take it off of the stove and place them aside. That's it!

This next part, I'm sorry for this...I didn't document much except for the ending result...but I believe in you! You can do it! So, for the Mexican rice you'll need a large flat pan and preheat your stove to a medium setting, we put ours on 5. Then you'll put a quick splash of oil in it, I swished mine in the pan to coat it. 

Next, you'll put your 3 cups of rice in it. Make a layer of rice to cover the pan. While that's heating up/browning, quickly get 6 1/2 cups of water ready on the side. I pour mine into one huge cup, to pour all at once. Quickly get back to your rice and stir it around and fold/flip around the rice. I used a spatula, which makes that part easy. you'll want your rice to be a slightly golden color, like a couple shades off from white. Then, turn your stove down to 2! This is a necessity! Next, pour your 6 cups of water into the pan. Do this quickly as the pan is hot and there will be LOTS of steam. Then scoop 2 tbsp. of the tomato bouillon into the rice.

Stir it around to get the tomato bouillon everywhere and then cover it with a lid. Then LEAVE YOUR RICE ALONE! Don't touch it, let heat up and do its thing for about 10 - 15 minutes. Once it's done, it should have holes in it/looks like it was poked, and there will be no water left. Mix it around and turn the stove off. Let it cool before serving. And voila, it's finished! Pretty easy! Also, here's a picture of what the whole meal looks like...pretty normal, lol.

Sorry for such a long post, but hey...it'll be worth it in the end. I hope y'all get to make it + enjoy this wonderful meal. It's easy and super delicious!

Until next time,

Zelly :)