Skip to main content

Piri Piri Chicken (Portuguese)

Whenever Arun & I go for our bi-monthly shopping or for the movies, we make sure that we don't miss a meal at "Nandos". As for those who haven't heard of this restaurant, it is a Portuguese restaurant, famous for its flame grilled Portuguese Peri-Peri (Piri Piri) chicken. The succulent chicken thighs are marinated in a special Portuguese sauce called Piri Piri and then flame grilled and served with chips (thick french fries). Its an heavenly experience which I can't even explain. :) Piri Piri is a type of chilli pepper, which has a peculiar hotness that heats up the palate and gives the sauce that fiery touch to it.


So I thought of bringing this heavenly experience to our kitchen but without the piri piri chilli!! "Nandos" secret ingredient will be a mystery forever but we surely can make a good piri piri sauce at home and put in some homely essence to that heavenly experience.

Ingredients:
  • 4 large chicken thighs (preferably skin and bone)
  • 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
  • 1 green capsicum (bell paper)
  • 6 sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)
  • olive oil (seasoning)
  • salt and pepper (seasoning)
For Piri Piri Sauce:
  • 1 medium red onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 tbsp paprika
  • 2 lemons
  • 4 tbsp whit wine vinegar (or the ordinary vinegar)
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • a large bunch of fresh basil
Method:
  1. Put the chicken thighs on a chopping board (skin side down) & take your chapathi belan (pastry roller) and beat the pieces few times to make the meat flatter.
  2. Drizzle with olive oil and season the thighs with salt and pepper.
  3. Heat a non stick flat griddle pan & put the chicken thighs on it (skin side down). Cook till golden underneath, then turn over.
  4. When the chicken is getting golden both sides, make the piri piri sauce.
  5. Peel and chop the onion and add it to your blender/mixer. Add the peeled garlic, chillies, paprika, zest of both lemons and juice of 1 lemon to the blender/mixer. Also add the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper to season and the whole bunch of basil and 2 tbsp of water. Make a smooth paste.
  6. Chop the capsicum into thick strips and add with the roasting chicken. Shake the griddle and make space for the capsicum to roast along with the chicken. Turn the chicken and capsicums frequently.
  7. Preheat the oven on to 200° celcius/gas 6.
  8. Take an oven roasting tray and pour in the piri piri sauce. Now transfer the chicken and capsicum from the griddle to the roasting tray and smear the sauce all over with a spoon. Put the thyme sprigs on top of the chicken. Put the tray into the oven.
  9. Open the oven after 15 minutes and turn the chicken. Cook for another 15 minutes.
  10. Take out the tray of chicken and capsicum at the time of your meal and serve with some "English Roasted Potatoes" (For this recipe, please click the "English" category of the blog).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hundred Thousand Dollar worth Rava Upma (Indian Semolina Polenta)

Now you must be thinking, who doesn't know to make Rava Upma? What is so special about it? Every 5th person residing in India knows to make it and is a common breakfast item in almost all the Indian household. We Indians take this dish for granted. Well up until a week back, even I thought the same about this dish and looked down on Rava Upma. Not anymore. Last week I read a news about an Indian born, New York Chef Floyd Cardoz who won the top prize of £100,000 in an American show called "Top Chef Masters". No prize for guessing, he made RAVA UPMA!! After reading the article, I immediately decided that the recipe of a basic version of Upma must be on my blog. And here I am sharing the if not a "million dollar", then atleast a "hundred thousand dollar worth Upma Recipe". :) Upma is a popular South Indian Breakfast dish, mainly prepared by Semolina. It has a great resemblance with the Italian Polenta. It can be made with many variations by adding vegeta...
13 comments
Read more

Anniversary & Pouring Awards with Pista Kulfi

Took a break from blog & cooking for a couple of days as I was in a mood to celebrate!! That's right, Arun and I celebrated our 4 years of married life on 10th June. Phew, time truly flies in just a snap!! (Below is our wedding snap, a perfect South Indian Wedding shot...please don't laugh at it.;). So I was in no mood to cook that day & told Arun that the meals of the day will be either frozen, take away or a dine out. He preferred the third one. ;) So we went to one of our favourite food joints {Did I tell you, that we live in a place called Chesterfield, a Historic Market Town in UK & don't have much choices around here ;)}, "Frankie & Benny's."My god, we both die for those thin crust Italian Pizzas & the cheesy gar(lick)y bread which melts in your mouth like a candy floss...Aah! Now, I have to tell you what we ordered, because it was that good. ;) For starters, we ordered their famous garlic bread with crispy coated chicken ...
24 comments
Read more

Light Lunch - Vegetable Soup

My last few days at Chesterfield, home alone, cherishing all the happy memories of the last 4 years. Spent whole day flipping through the photographs with a hot mug of Coffee relaxing on my recliner. I was in no mood to cook but then getting hungry is human, so I had to visit my kitchen to see what could be made. I decided to go light today so made use of all the remaining veggies (to clear off the fridge) to make a healthy Vegetable Soup. I finished off making a warm, healthy, filling soup for my lunch just within half an hour & went back to my couch only to get more lazy. Sometimes its good when you do nothing at all!! ;) Ingredients: 1/2 of medium cauliflower (cut into florets) 2 medium carrots (peeled & finely diced) 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas 1 medium potato (finely diced) 1 medium onion (finely chopped) 2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed) 25 gm butter salt & pepper to season Method: Melt the butter in a pressure cooker. Now add the crushed garlic & the chopped ...
22 comments
Read more