Piri Piri Chicken

I want to remind everyone to enter the COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY from Sweet Debbie’s Organic Treats.  It will make a great gift for Christmas as well.  (Oh my gosh – did I say Christmas?  Just forget I mentioned it, lol.  It’s TOO soon!)  I have a lot of family members who have restrictions on their diets and I’m so thankful for this book!   Secondly, remember I mentioned in my writing post that I wanted to do dishes from around the world?  Well, this is my first choice – Piri Piri Chicken and, wow, I’m so glad I stepped out of the usual chicken comfort realm!

Piri Piri (PEE-ree PEE-ree) chicken is a cultivar of the chili pepper that grows both wild and domesticated.  It is found in Uganda, Malawi, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and the tropical forests of South Sudan and the southern half of Ethiopia.  It was brought to Goa by the Portuguese.  Subsequently, this dish belongs both to the Portuguese as well as the African countries listed.  Naturally, each country and every generation has put their own spin on it and I have done the same as well.

I chose this dish because it’s easy and super flavourful and even if you have never cooked a whole chicken before, you can do this.  The chili, garlic, herbs and lemon will awaken your taste buds and you’ll find that you will want to cook this dish again and again.  You can vary the amount of spice you add depending on your preferences.  I used more than what I’ve put in the recipe but I like it hot!  In reading many of the recipes online, I was surprised how many people used ketchup and/or red food colouring.  I skipped that so mine may not be as red as what you’ll see elsewhere.

I asked the butcher to butterfly (or spatchcock) this chicken (remove the backbone). I’m not very skilled with my knives and I was afraid of making a mess of it and he did it in less than 3 minutes.  I would have had to YouTube it, lol.  This way you can spread the chicken out a little, ensuring all of the sauce is covering it – topside and beneath.  I let it marinate overnight and I would highly recommend this or at least a minimum of 6 hours.

You can see how tender it was.  The skin was literally falling off and I had to rush to get the pictures.  I served it with roasted potatoes and, along with a garden salad, it will give your family a healthy and filling meal.

If you want to give this a try at a restaurant first before cooking it,  check to see if there is a Nando’s near you.  It seems they have locations world wide and they are famous for the piri piri chicken.  I haven’t tried it but the man has and he loved it – and he’s not even a fan of chicken!  I’m also told there is a bottled piri-piri sauce but I don’t want to hear that any of you are using that!  This marinade only takes a few minutes to put together and the freshness is worth it.

PIN IT!

If you haven’t had this, I hope you will take a little trip outside your comfort zone and give it try as well.  Cheers!