Move over Taco Tuesday, it’s time for Adam Liaw’s beef fajita Friday

Name: Move over Taco Tuesday, it’s time for Adam Liaw’s beef fajita Friday
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4-6
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 300g beef flank or rump steak; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 red onion, thickly sliced; 4 cloves garlic, sliced; ½ each red, green and yellow capsicums, sliced into thin strips; 2 tsp Maggi seasoning (or soy sauce); juice of 1 lime; salt and black pepper, to season; 12 flour tortillas; 1 cup good-quality salsa, to serve; ½ cup sour cream, to serve

Adam Liaw

June 26, 2024

Fajitas are a Tex-Mex favourite.William Meppem

easyTime:< 30 minsServes:4-6

When it comes to Mexican food, most of the dishes we think of aren’t Mexican at all. Tex-Mex cuisine goes back more than a century as the food of the Tejanos (Mexican Texans) and is a mix of influences from Spain, Mexico and America’s southern states. But even those original Tex-Mex dishes are a far cry from the more modern variations we know today.

After World War II, America supercharged Tex-Mex cuisine as part of its increasing industrialisation of food processing. The powerful American dairy lobby added huge amounts of cheese and sour cream to the mix, flour tortillas replaced the corn variety, and the US sent processed Tex-Mex all around the world in the form of hard-shell tacos and nachos.

If you want to give Tex-Mex cuisine a try, a great place to start would be with the classic beef fajita.

Ingredients

300g beef flank or rump steak
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, thickly sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
½ each red, green and yellow capsicums, sliced into thin strips
2 tsp Maggi seasoning (or soy sauce)
juice of 1 lime
salt and black pepper, to season
12 flour tortillas
jalapeno guacamole
1 cup good-quality salsa, to serve
½ cup sour cream, to serve

BEEF MARINADE

1 tbsp Maggi seasoning (or soy sauce)
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp mild Korean chilli powder

Method

Step 1
Slice the beef, mix with the marinade ingredients and marinate overnight.
Step 2
Heat a frying pan over high heat until very hot and then add the oil. Fry the steak until cooked to your liking and rest very well. Slice into thin strips. Return the pan to the heat and add the onion, garlic and capsicum. Toss until softened, then return the beef to the pan and season with the Maggi seasoning, lime juice, salt and pepper.
Step 3
Heat the tortillas according to the packet directions and serve the beef mixture with the tortillas, jalapeno guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

Adam’s tip: Maggi seasoning is a mainstay in Mexican households, both in
Mexico and the US. Its taste is similar to soy sauce and it can be used in the same
quantity as a direct substitute.