Peri Peri Sauce | Tasty Portuguese Sunshine |

Peri Peri Sauce is so easy to make and you will never want to go to a Nando’s ever again. The spices, lemon and garlic work their magic and you can use as a baste when roasting chicken.  It also works well as a dipping sauce with Prawns or Shrimp. The ingredient are readily available and it will keep in the fridge for weeks and easily frozen to add some sunshine to winter dishes.

Don’t be put off by the number of Chilli’s needed in the recipe. These can be adjusted to suit the level of spiciness that you enjoy. Bear in mind though the longer you keep the sauce the hotter it becomes.

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Peri Peri Sauce

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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By Marc Spendlove-Kruger – Serves: 10

Prep Time: 40 Minutes – Cooking Time: 20 Mins

Peri peri (piri piri) sauce brings vibrant, piquant taste of Africa to your cooking. Use it to baste or marinate chicken for a Nando’s-style ‘fakeaway’, or as a lively dip or topping for all sorts of barbecue dishes. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Ingredients

• 2 large red peppers, char grilled
• 1 large red onion, char grilled
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
• zest of one lemon, finely grated
• 10 small red chilis, roughly chopped (more to taste for hotter sauce)
• 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, or plain paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• TO FINISH THE SAUCE (WHEN COOKED)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• zest of one lemon, finely minced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1

Roast the red peppers and onions. This can be done on a gas grill or on a cast iron grill pan. Get them as black as you can as this "char" really adds a nice smoky flavour .

2

Chop the peppers and onions and add them to a food processor or blender.

3

Add the garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, lemon zest, chilis, smoked paprika, oregano, salt and pepper and blitz until smooth.

4

Transfer the sauce to a medium saucepan, add the bay leaves and simmer slowly for 20-30 minutes.

5

Let the sauce cool to warm.

6

Remove the bay leaves then return the sauce to the food processor again.

7

Add the additional lemon juice, red wine vinegar and lemon zest.

8

Puree for another few minutes until very smooth.

9

Slowly add in the olive oil in a thin stream as the processor is running.

We have been growing our own chilis and as usual they are all ready for harvest all at the same time. Ivan bought a few plants of various types and its been great fun working out what to do with them. They are really easy to freeze and with the help of a very low over simple to dry.

If you like something spicy try some of our other recipes to add some eastern flavours.

Spicy Duck Curry | Mouth Watering Temptation from Kerala |

Sriracha Egg Sliders | Spice up your life |

Hoisin Sauce | Well Worth The Effort

Another great way of using fresh chilis is in Chili Sherry | Every Soups Best Friend |

Wine Matching

A dish with Peri Peri Sauce needs a full flavoured and balanced Rose to freshen the palate. We chose a Reserve de Pierre Rose 2019. Made with  only the best grapes from the best parcels in the Rhone, this rose is packed full of bright red berries, fresh raspberries and juicy white peach. Crack open this elegant tipple and serve nicely chilled with some spicy food. Delicious. Available from Naked Wines.