An African Afflatus: Chicken Piri Piri

In the mood for something hot?  Search no further, as this African-inspired chicken piri piri will more than satisfy your cravings for capsaicin.  

Although Portuguese in origin, piri piri sauce is enjoyed throughout southern Africa, where the Iberian traders first introduced the hot chili.  Piri piri is a Bantu word for pepper, as well as a name for the cultivar of the Capsicum frutescens, African bird's eye chili.

In addition to being extremely spicy, these chilies are not easily obtained in the United States, so I used a mixture of chili paste called sambal and fresh chilies in habanero and red hot to match the intense heat of a piri piri sauce.  If you insist upon using a mix of entirely fresh chilies, red Thai bird's eye chilies make a good substitute for color and aggressive spice.  Anywhere from 8 to 10 would work, but leave out the habanero and red hot chili if you go that route.   

Originally, I wanted to feature the sauce on some juicy shrimp, as piri piri and seafood are a natural pairing.  However, the grocery store's offerings were less than enticing, melodramatically reminding me of Vonnegut's repeated refrain from Slaughterhouse-Five, "So it goes."

It just so happens, though, that chicken and piri piri sauce go well together, and the day was saved when I found some chicken wings (on sale).  Considering people already love wings and hot sauce, I figured I'd riff off of that and add a bit more refinement than you'd find at your typical Buffalo Ring-A-Ding Wings.  

For this reason, I decided to strain the sauce, rather than toss it directly over the wings.  If you'd prefer a chunkier and even more intense piri piri, puree rather than strain.  

Try this spicy sauce on any cut of chicken, white fish, or shellfish.  Just be sure to keep something refreshing around for the heat!

Ingredients:

12 chicken wings, 6 wings, 6 drumettes

1 T of peanut or olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

4 cloves of garlic

1 whole onion

1 habanero, 1/2 chopped, other half sliced thinly into rings

1 red hot chili pepper

4 T of sambal or other hot chile paste

~1/4 C of fresh cilantro and parsley, equal parts of each

1 lemon, juiced

1 clementine or orange, juiced

2-4 oz chicken stock/broth, low sodium if possible

1 T of butter

1-2 t of brown sugar

extra cilantro and parsley for garnish

crushed red pepper for garnish 

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