Piri-piri chicken

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1whole chicken, 1.4–1.6 kg, spatchcocked (backbone out, breastbone cracked flat)
• 2 tspsalt
• Juice of 1 lemon

Marinade

• 10fresh red piri-piri chillies, chopped with their seeds
• 8garlic cloves
• 2 tspcoarse salt
• 2 tspsweet paprika
• 1 tspblack pepper
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 80 mlsunflower or peanut oil
• 1 tbspred wine vinegar
• 1 tspdried oregano

Basting butter (Zambezia style)

• 60 gbutter
• 150 mlthick coconut milk
• 3 tbspof the marinade
• 1 tbsplemon juice

To serve

• Extra molho de piri-piri
• Steamed rice or hand-cut chips
• 1tomato and onion salad dressed with lemon and oil

Directions

1. Spatchcock the chicken, press it hard with the heel of your hand until the breastbone cracks and it lies flat, then slash the thighs and drumsticks to the bone twice each so the marinade and the heat reach the deepest meat.
2. Rub it all over with the salt and lemon juice and leave 20 minutes while you make the marinade.
3. Pound the chillies, garlic and coarse salt in a mortar to a rough paste, then work in the paprika, pepper, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano and oil.
4. Reserve 3 tbsp of the marinade for the basting butter and rub the rest into the chicken, working it under the skin of the breast and thighs. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
5. Take the chicken out an hour before cooking. Light a charcoal fire and let it burn down to grey-ashed embers, then rake them to one side so you have a hot zone and a cool zone; the grill bars should sit 20–25 cm above the coals.
6. Melt the butter with the coconut milk, the reserved marinade and the lemon juice in a small pan at the edge of the fire, and keep it warm with a brush in it.
7. Start the chicken bone-side down over the cooler zone, skin up, and cook covered or under a foil tent for 25–30 minutes, basting every 8 minutes. Cooking it bone-side first protects the skin and lets the thighs catch up with the breast.
8. Turn it skin-side down over the hotter zone for the last 12–18 minutes, basting and turning every 4 minutes. Move it away whenever the fat flares; you want deep mahogany blistering, not black.
9. It is done when the thickest part of the thigh reads 75°C (165°F), the juices run clear when the joint is pierced, and the drumstick moves loosely in its socket.
10. Rest it on a board for 10 minutes, brush with the last of the basting butter, then chop through the joints into pieces with a heavy knife and serve with extra piri-piri sauce, rice or chips and the tomato salad.

Technique

• Two zones, not one. A whole spatchcocked bird over direct heat burns outside and stays raw at the joint; the indirect start is what makes the difference.
• Basting with coconut milk and butter is the Zambezia signature, and the coconut sugars are what give the lacquered dark finish. It also means the bird must be watched closely at the end.
• Slashing the legs is not optional on charcoal. The thigh needs 75°C (165°F) while the breast wants 68°C (155°F), and the slashes let the legs cook faster.
• The Mozambican habit is to serve extra raw sauce at the table so each person sets their own heat, rather than making the marinade itself unbearable.

Substitutions

• No charcoal: roast at 200°C (400°F) for 40 minutes, basting, then finish 6–8 minutes under a hot grill to blister the skin. You lose the smoke but keep the dish.
• Chicken thighs and drumsticks alone work well and need only 25–30 minutes total; they are also more forgiving over live fire.
• Without fresh piri-piri, use 2 tbsp of a good bottled piri-piri sauce plus 3 chopped bird’s eye chillies in the marinade.

Variations

• Galinha a Zambeziana, the Quelimane original, heavy on coconut milk and lime.
• Frango a cafreal, the related Goan-Mozambican version built on a green coriander and chilli paste.
• Half chickens grilled to order at roadside barracas with chips and a bottle of 2M beer.

History

Portuguese settlers grilled chicken with the small African bird’s eye chili; Mozambican-Portuguese migrants took the recipe to Johannesburg, where Nando’s began in 1987.

Frequently asked questions

What is Piri-piri chicken?

Piri-piri chicken is a main from Mozambique: flame-grilled chicken basted in fiery piri-piri marinade. Portuguese settlers grilled chicken with the small African bird’s eye chili; Mozambican-Portuguese migrants took the recipe to Johannesburg, where Nando’s began in 1987.

How long does Piri-piri chicken take to make?

Piri-piri chicken takes 30 min of preparation and 4 hr marinating plus 50 min grilling of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Piri-piri chicken?

Yes, within limits. No charcoal: roast at 200°C (400°F) for 40 minutes, basting, then finish 6–8 minutes under a hot grill to blister the skin. You lose the smoke but keep the dish. Chicken thighs and drumsticks alone work well and need only 25–30 minutes total; they are also more forgiving over live fire. Without fresh piri-piri, use 2 tbsp of a good bottled piri-piri sauce plus 3 chopped bird’s eye chillies in the marinade.

What is the most important thing to get right in Piri-piri chicken?

Two zones, not one. A whole spatchcocked bird over direct heat burns outside and stays raw at the joint; the indirect start is what makes the difference.