Okay, so Meatless Fajitas are just peppers and onions – LOL. But the flavor profile is kind of fajita-ish, and exceptionally delicious – if I do say so myself! The longer you cook the jalapeno, the more of its heat it’ll lose. So to control the heat in the dish, just vary the time you throw the jalapeno into the pan. Or for mouth-watering fire, throw it in raw at the end!
Serve these fajitas by themselves for a vegetable-only meal, or with corn bread, black beans and guacamole for a Mexican fiesta!
Makes 3 – 4 side dish servings.
1 red onion
2 T olive oil
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 jalapeno, optional
1 t cumin
2 T lime juice
2 t brown sugar
1 t salt
Part of getting a fajita-style dish is the way you slice the onions. Cut off the top and bottom of the onion, then slice in half the long way, not across the belly. Remove the skin, then continue slicing the onion the long way into thin wedges. It’s okay if the wedges fall apart into individual slices. It’s inevitable, actually.
[Note: To maintain the onion in wedges, don’t slice off the top – then each wedge will have a bit of top on it, and the wedges will mostly stay together]
Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat. The longer you cook them, the sweeter and less onion-y they’ll get. But they’ll also lose their wedge-like fajita shape with long cooking. 7 minutes is good for just giving them a nice sear, while still maintaining their onion-like crispness. For softer, sweeter onions, cook them 20 – 25 minutes. But monitor the heat – the softer they get, the quicker they’ll burn so you’ll need to turn down the heat.
If you like a mild dish, add the jalapenos to the onions as you saute them. To increase the heat, wait to add them with the peppers.
Once the onions have softened, add the peppers to the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium and add the cumin, lime juice, brown sugar and salt. Stir and cook for another 3 – 5 minutes, until the peppers have achieved the desired softness.