Chicken fajita

I love Mexican food, there is something about the distinct flavours and spicy chillies that really appeals to me. One of my favourites is fajitas, but the restaurant style dish is loaded with fat. Here is my take on the Mexican classic with almost no fat.

Researchers from Purdue University, in America have conducted a study on the effects of red chilli peppers on metabolism and appetite. The results show that adding a sprinkling of chilli to your meal helps reduce the craving for salty, sweet and fatty foods. The study's results also indicate that the chillies also increased energy expenditure. It has to be said that the researcher only used a small group of test subjects for their study, and that further work needs to be done to further verify the findings. However it does give you another reason to indulge in a hot and spicy, healthy meal.  

Ingredients:

200g skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips
2 onions, sliced into strips
2 peppers of various colours, sliced into strips
15g Discovery Fajita Seasoning (half of the 30g packet)

4 Healthy flour tortillas
Salsa
Quark low fat cheese (to replace sour cream)

How to:

1. Mix the chicken with the fajita seasoning and put to one side
2. Dry fry the onions and pepper strips in a good non stick pan until they are soft and just starting to pick up a bit of colour, then put to one side
3. In the same pan, throw in the chicken and dry fry until the chicken is cooked through
4. Return the veggies to the pan to bring the veggies back up to heat them through.
5. Serve in a tortilla wrap with salsa and Quark

Serves 2

Although the Quark cheese isn't a perfect replacement for sour cream, it does reduce the calorie count of the meal.

Links to the science

Ludy MJ, Mattes RD. The effects of hedonically acceptable red pepper doses on thermogenesis and appetite. Physiology & Behavior 2011 102; 251-258