Lately, I have been researching Portuguese food articles published in the US as I find that the recipes you get are all tweaked to suit American taste. But then, what is the point… I think people want the real flavour, not a fake one, or at least that is my view! This is when I thought of Chicken Piri-piri. I go down the road to fetch chicken piri-piri in this amazing little corner restaurant all the time and believe it or not, I have the mild version, while my 8 year old granddaughter and everyone else have the hot version!
Piri-piri in Portugal is a small red pepper that grows in a bush like plant and we have it either in the garden or in a pot, that’s how easy it is to grow.
I found an article on Piri-piri, published by Leite’s Culinaria, where he explains that Piri-Piri is largely used in Portugal, Cape Verde, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, and Goa.
Read more: http://leitesculinaria.com/10268/writings-portuguese-piri-piri-peppers-hot-sauce.html#ixzz1QBTw2dUc
Piri-piri comes from the Swahili word that means ‘pepper-pepper,’ and naturally cross-pollinated. Eventually, one of the varieties made its way to Portugal, where, for some reason, it retained its African name.”
To us, Portuguese, it’s just one more ingredient we use on food, especially Chicken Piri-piri and Shrimp Piri-piri, both absolutely delicious. The main difference between our Chicken Piri-piri and the American barbecued chicken is that we don’t marinate the chicken at all. it’s the grilling method and constant basting with the butter and chilli sauce that makes the chicken so delicious.
Now we do have bottles of piri-piri sauce but that is as good as comparing home made tomato sauce to store bought tomato sauce. And true, as Mr. Leite says, you will find a Piri-piri bottle on every restaurant table in Portugal, some hotter, some milder.
Grilled Chicken Piri-Piri is another classic Portuguese dish, and great for summer.
The chicken is fabulous cold, making it ideal for picnics or a summer dinner when you’d rather be with your friends than cooking and sweating over your barbecue.
Serve it with a fresh salad with tomatoes and lettuce or the Portuguese way – home-made fried chips or potato crisps.
Got any left overs? Make a sandwich, a salad or a pasta salad! - Maria Teresa Jorge
—Maria Teresa Jorge
This brought me right back to the Algarve in Portugal, where we had one of the best meals of our trip. The basting sauce was spicy and buttery, and because you are constantly basting the chicken with it, the heat from the chiles gently permeates the meat as it grills. I used cherry peppers from my local farm stand, which the farmer said were about the same heat level as jalapenos so I used two peppers and it was just right. If you like burning heat, you’ll want more. Either way, this was a wonderful reminder of our vacation and a great introduction to Portuguese cooking. I highly recommend it as an Editors’ Pick. —drbabs
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