Piri Piri Chicken

Piri piri chicken is an African dish.

Piri piri is a type of chili found in Africa .I have used Fresno chili instead.It gives the  same red color to the chicken. The chili and the shallots gives it unique flavor.

The chicken is succulent and spiced well . I served it with avocado salad, red beans gravy and white rice. Made this  for July 4th and it was a big hit .

Ingredients

1.Bone in skin on  chicken thighs-4

Extra virgin olive oil- for drizzling

2.Fresno chilies-2 or any hot chili of your choice(seeds removed and chopped)

garlic -3 to 4

Shallot-2 to 3

Ginger-1 inch piece

Lime -juice of 1

coriander powder-1 tbsp(freshly ground)

Kashmiri chili powder/paprika -1 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder-1 tsp

salt to taste

Method

1.Grind all the ingredients in 2. to a paste

2.Wash chicken well Make gashes and marinate it with the ground paste for 2 hours.I keep it overnight in the fridge.

3.Grill it on cast iron stove top grill.Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top of the chicken to prevent it from sticking.Fry until the skin of the chicken becomes crisp and the inside is cooked well .

Till here it is Rachael Ray's recipe almost followed to last detail.

OR 

Another easy alternative is just grill the marinated chicken in the oven till chicken is cooked and skin is crisp.

OR

4.Now if you don't have the grill and don't want to do the full frying in an oil pan.Are you like me who gets apprehensive about under cooked chicken then follow the rest. 

After the marination time I pressure cook the  chicken for 1 whistle pouring 1/4 glass water.This ensures it is 80% cooked. 

Then I transfer the chicken to a wide mouthed non stick pan add little bit of olive oil and start frying on medium when the chicken begins to stick to the bottom I drizzle the spice water left in the pressure cooker very little at a time which prevents the meat from completely drying out and does the rest of the 20% cooking.

I turn it once or twice till all the water is used up and the skin looks crispy.I believe in frying the chicken in its own fat rather than oil.

Note:

I know this is not authentic grilling but I hate dried out meat which needs hours of chewing to be swallowed .In the pressure cooker technique somehow I end up getting good results.

The chicken skin protects the flesh from being burnt and drying out.The skin becomes dry and crispy but the meat inside stays tender and succulent.

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