Peri Peri Chicken

Peri Peri Chicken

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes + marinade time

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, butterflied or cut into pieces
Peri Peri Sauce:
10-20 red chilis, traditionally you would use piri piri (bird) chilis, but I used red jalapenos
6-8 sweet peppers
4 cloves garlic
A small handful of fresh oregano
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Pinch of salt
Simple Coleslaw:
1/2 large cabbage, shredded
3-4 carrots, shredded
3 scallions, diced
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Pinch of salt
2 Teaspoons dried mustard (optional)
Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor
Kitchen Shears

Preparing the Sauce

Traditionally this sauce is made with piri piri peppers, also known as bird chilis.  These are small guys and they pack a punch.  Depending on the heat level you want in your sauce, I’d use between 10 and 20 of them if you can find them.
I wasn’t able to find any so I just subbed in red jalapenos.  They worked just fine but are way larger.  So I used about 8 of them.

Lots of peppers...

Chop up all the peppers really roughly.  Cut off the stems, but leave all the seeds.
Add the oil to a medium pot over medium heat.  Once it’s hot add all the peppers and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the veggies are soft.  Then add in the spices, vinegar, and salt and stir everything together.
Let this simmer for a few minutes and then remove it from the heat.  This stuff will make your eyes water!

A quick cook.

Once this is reasonably cool, give it a whirl in the blender or food processor.  You want it to be pretty smooth, but it’s fine if there are some chunks of peppers.
Then use half of it to marinate the chicken and save the other half as a sauce for the finished chicken.

Cool It Down Coleslaw

This is a pretty spicy sauce and dish and so it helps to have some cooling sides to help out with the heat.  Coleslaw is the perfect choice.

Basics.

I highly recommend using a food processor to shred up the carrots and cabbage because it’ll only take a minute instead of the 10 minutes it would take with a box grater.
Whatever works for you though.
Then just mix the shredded veggies with the other ingredients.  Feel free to adjust the ingredients to your tastes.  You might like your creamier or saltier or with more mustard than I added to mine.
Go crazy.  Make it your own.

All mixed up!

Preparing the Chicken

Ideally, you can marinate your chicken overnight in half of your Peri Peri sauce. A gallon sized plastic bag works great for this.
Also, because I was grilling my chicken, I butterflied it.  If you were roasting it in the oven, you could just keep it whole or you could use whatever chicken pieces you like.
Butterflying a chicken is really only a two step process, but it’s one of those things that’s much easier to explain via video.  I recommend this video from Bon Appetit (sound) that shows the process.  It’s not hard necessarily, but you’ll need some good kitchen shears.  CPR training doesn’t hurt.
If you do butterfly it and marinate it, you’ll end up with something like this.

Tricky maneuver.

When you’re ready to grill, get the grill hot and throw your chicken on breast side up.  Depending on the size of the chicken, it’ll need to cook for 30-40 minutes total.

Good grillin'

Turn it a few times as it cooks and feel free to baste it with more marinade as it cooks.
I recommend using a meat thermometer to know when it’s done.  You’re shooting for about 160 degrees Fahrenheit in the thighs.
My grill was a bit hot when I turned my bird and it got a bit scorched on one side.  It looks worse than it was though.
Consider it flavor right?

Grill was a bit hot!

When the bird comes off the grill, cover it with foil and let it rest for five or ten minutes before cutting it up and serving it.
You’re going to want to serve this with lots of extra sauce because the sauce is pretty killer.

Lots of sauce is a good thing.

If the whole butterflying thing is intimidating, you could use any cut of chicken that you want.  Just marinate them and toss them on the grill.
It’s guaranteed to be good.  Especially if you slather it in sauce!