BBQ Chicken with Piri Piri Sauce and Marinade

Surfing through the web checking out other blogger's tasty posts, I found this amazingly delicious barbecue chicken marinated in Piri Piri Sauce. The blog where I found this recipe is at LIVE. LOVE. EAT.
I’d never heard of Piri Piri before, so I went on the hunt for more information.

Apparently Piri Piri was the name given to a particular chile used in cooking in Mozambique, Angola and Portugal. The name is used to describe a special chile plant called the African Bird’s Eye Chile. Here is a picture of it.

There is an excellent review of Piri Piri at David Leite’s website: Leite’s Culinaria.


According to Wikipedia:
"“Nando's, the Portuguese-themed chicken restaurant, originated in South Africa from Portuguese who left Mozambique after the independence in 1975. The chain uses piri-piri in many of its dishes, and helped popularise them worldwide. The company, however, prefers the common South African spelling peri peri on its menus and branded sauces.”

The Congo Cookbook website also gives you a fascinating and detailed history of Piri Piri.

Here's the recipe:

Grilled Chicken Piri Piri

• 2-3 lemons, zested & juiced plus 2 sliced for garnish
• 1/2 head garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 red peppers, seeded & roughly chopped
• 5 chili peppers like serrano or jalapeno
• 2 cups fresh parsley leaves
• 1 1/2 tblsp paprika
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup olive oil
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 3 pkgs cut up chicken pieces, skin on

In a food processor add lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, red pepper, chiles, parsley, paprika, red wine vinegar & oil. Process until it becomes a paste (wasn't too pasty to me, it was pourable). Season with salt & pepper. Reserve 1 cup of the sauce as set aside for garnishing cooked chicken later.
Divide chicken pieces into 2-3 large resealable plastic bags. Divide the marinade into both bags & seal. Turn the chicken around in the bags to distribute the marinade. Place chicken in the refrigerator & let it marinate for at least 1 hour & up to 1 day. I did mine overnight after baking it (see my thoughts).
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Remove chicken from bags with tongs & drain well. Season with salt & pepper. Place on grill, skin side down first & grill for about 15 minutes on each side turning occasionally until cooked through.
Serve with lemon wedges & the reserved piri piri sauce.

{Her Thoughts}
Whenever I grill out with chicken I always bake it first for about 25 minutes with just a bit of salt & pepper in a 375 oven. (I totally agree with her on this point. It does cut down on the cooking time over the coals therefore keeping the chicken from getting that “burnt” look and taste.) Not only does this cut down on the time on the grill it also allows the marinade to really penetrate the chicken better. And it’s still on the grill long enough (about 15 min) to get that delicious grilled flavor. My Dad & I have been doing this for years & swear by it!!!!! For this recipe, I needed 2 baking sheets, one for the thighs & legs & the other for the breasts.I halved the original recipe & it’s reflected above. 3 pkgs of cut up chicken feeds about 6 for a BBQ at my house. As for the peppers, I used about 4 jalapenos because I didn't want it to be too spicy for my in laws. It was perfect.

{Back to me}
After combining the ingredients for the marinade and leaving the chicken to absorb the sauce in the fridge, I decided to add the left-over piri piri sauce to a cup of barbecue sauce. I love chile, but my tummy cannot tolerate anything too spicy. The results were quite delicious. The heat of the marinade had been infused into the chicken and when over the hot coals, a slathering of BBQ sauce with the remaining Piri Piri made it mouth watering.
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We roasted some corn and Lily cut up a fresh pineapple and removed the pits from a couple of nectarines. She squirted the fruits with limejuice and sprinkled some paprika over them and roasted these as well. This lovely meal was topped off with a root beer float and we were all quite content…and sleepy after the meal.

I decided to do this recipe after posting about all the delicious chiles available to us for our cooking adventures. I hope you try this magnificent sauce. I guarantee you’ll like it. Hasta luego my friends.
Come check out our latest chocolate indulgence -- Chocolate "Caliente" Souffle.
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A smiley, just for you! :)

THE SENILITY PRAYER :
Grant me the senility to forget the people
I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones I do, and
The eyesight to tell the difference.
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Always Remember This:
You don't stop laughing because you grow old,
You grow old because you stop laughing!!!