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French
Classic French Omelette
Source: Chef
10 min1300 kcal
VegetarianGluten-freeLow-carb+1
Frango Piri-Piri — Portuguese Peri-Peri Chicken
Spatchcocked chicken lacquered with a fierce, garlicky chilli sauce and charred over fire — the dish that carried a New-World chilli home to Portugal by way of its African colonies. Butterfly it flat so it cooks fast and stays juicy.
Source
Recipe by Portuguese home kitchens · 🏺 Traditional · Everyday cooking of Portuguese households — the plain, produce-led food behind the restaurant classics
Portuguese · Luso-African chilli dish — An ownerless traditional dish, so no cook is credited. This dish has no dedicated English Wikipedia article, so it is sourced to 'Piri piri', which is where the colonial history — the whole editorial point here — is documented: the article states that piri-piri 'was originally produced by Portuguese explorers in Portugal's former Southern African territories and then spread to other Portuguese domains', that the chilli descends from American plants that then grew wild in Africa, and that it grows in Mozambique among other African countries. The article describes the pepper and sauce, NOT a chicken recipe; the spatchcock method and quantities here are this book's own.
Watch it being made · 2 videos
⏱ 60 min🍽 4 servings🔥 480 kcal🇵🇹 Portugal🌶️🌶️
HalalGluten-freeDairy-freeNut-freeLow-carb
Steps
Blend the chillies, garlic, vinegar, smoked paprika, lemon zest and juice, oregano, most of the olive oil and a good pinch of salt into a loose, rough sauce. Split it into two bowls — one to marinate, one to serve.
💡 Always keep back a portion of sauce before it touches raw chicken. The marinating half has been on raw meat and must be cooked; the reserved half stays clean for the table.
Rub the flattened chicken all over with salt, then coat it with the marinating sauce, working some under the skin. Leave it at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge.
Roast skin-side up in a hot oven (200°C) for about 35 minutes, or grill over medium coals skin-side down first. Baste once or twice with the tray juices.
For the last 5 minutes, brush with a little of the reserved fresh sauce and turn the heat up (or move over hotter coals) so the edges char. The chicken is done when the juices at the thigh run clear.
💡 Sauce the raw-meat marinade only in the first half of cooking; sauce the reserved clean batch only at the end and at the table. That way the chilli tastes fresh, not cooked to dullness.
Rest for 5 minutes, cut into pieces, and serve with the reserved sauce, lemon wedges, and chips or a simple salad.
💡 Tips
- The heat is yours to set — three chillies give a warm background, eight make it genuinely fierce. Portuguese-African cooks often add extra chilli oil at the table rather than in the pot.
- For a strictly alcohol-free, halal version keep to the vinegar or lemon above. Some restaurant sauces add a splash of whisky or wine — leave it out and the dish is unchanged in spirit.
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