Piri Piri Chicken

A boneless, dry and spicy chicken dish

• CuisinePortuguese
• CategoryChicken
• CourseStarters

Ingredients

• 1 kgchicken thigh fillets
• Marinade
• 2 clovesgarlic
• 4red chillies
• 1lemon
• 2 tbspbutter, softened
• 50 mldark rum
• 2 tsppaprika
•  salt
• Sauce
• 2 clovesgarlic
• 4red chillies
• 1lemon
• 125 mlolive oil
•  salt

Preparation

1. Grind all ingredients for the marinade coarsely
2. Cut each thigh fillet into three strips
3. Mix marinade into the chicken and keep for at least an hour
4. Fry on a skillet on both sides till browned
5. Grind all ingredients for the sauce fine
6. Serve with the sauce drizzled over the cooked chicken

Chilli. You cannot imagine Indian cooking without it. It is an essential ingredient in almost every Indian dish. But just like potatoes and tomatoes, chilli is a recent import reaching India in the 16th century from South America via the Portuguese. So here is a Portuguese dish that uses chilli as its main element.

Piri Piri is an African word for chilli - a spice so nice that they named it twice. From there, it came to India, specifically, Goa. Some of the usual ingredients of piri piri sauce are there - chilli, lemon, garlic, paprika. The chicken is marinated in a coarse version of the sauce and a finely ground version is used a dipping sauce. Once cooked, the marinade loses a lot of its sting. So if you want it hot, bring on the sauce.

Chicken liver is a controversial topic - most hate it, some love it. I happen to like it a lot so when I made a batch of chicken piri piri, I also made some chicken liver piri piri at the same time. The extra zing definitely improves the liver.

This goes particularly well with a Bread Salad.

There is not a lot of difference between the marinade and the sauce but while making it try to keep the two separate. Coming in contact with raw chicken without being subsequently cooked is a health hazard.