Piri-Piri Chicken

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   Piri-Piri Chicken 

Bon Appétit | July 2010 
by Steven Raichlen, Francine Maroukian, and the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen 

Piri-piri chicken is a spicy dish with roots in both Africa and Portugal. The dish was created in...Mozambique when Portuguese settlers arrived with chile peppers (known as piri-piri in Swahili). 

Timing note: The chicken needs to marinate for at least four hours before being grilled.

Yield: Makes 2 to 4 servings

Glaze:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons piri-piri sauce or other hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Chicken:
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
1 large shallot, peeled, quartered
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup piri-piri sauce or other hot pepper sauce
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for brushing
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 3 1/2- to 4-pound chicken, backbone removed, opened flat
1 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/4-inch disposable aluminum baking pan (to catch drips)

Ingredient info: Bottled piri-piri sauce is available at specialty foods stores and online from africantradingco.com. Choose the heat level that suits you, keeping in mind that the mild version still has a nice kick to it

For glaze: 

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cilantro and garlic; cook until garlic begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add piri-piri sauce and lemon juice. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 2 minutes. DO AHEAD: Glaze can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm before using. 

For chicken:

Finely chop cilantro, ginger, shallot, and garlic in processor. Add piri-piri sauce, 1/4 cup oil, lemon juice, coarse salt, and pepper; process marinade to blend. 
Place chicken, skin side up, on work surface. Using palm of hand, press on breastbone to flatten chicken. Tuck wing tips under. Pour half of marinade into 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Open chicken like book; place skin side down in single layer in dish. Pour remaining marinade over. Cover; chill at least 4 hours or overnight, turning chicken occasionally. 
Remove top rack from barbecue. Prepare barbecue (medium heat). If using 2-burner gas grill, light 1 burner. If using 3-burner gas grill, do not light center burner. If using charcoal grill, light briquettes in chimney and pour onto 1 side of lower grill rack. Place disposable aluminum pan on unlit part of grill. Place upper grill rack on barbecue; brush with oil.
Remove chicken from marinade. Arrange skin side up on grill rack above drip pan. Cover barbecue; grill until skin is browned and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°F, turning often, about 40 minutes. Transfer to platter. Pour warm glaze over. 
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Wiki provides this information on piri-piri: 

'African Devil' (African Bird's Eye or African red devil) is a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens, one of the sources of chili pepper, that grows both wild and domesticated. It is a small and extremely spicy member of the capsicum (Capsicum) genus.
The plants are usually very bushy and grow in height to 45-120 centimeters, with leaves of 4–7 cm length and 1.3-1.5 cm width. The fruits are generally tapered to a blunt point and measure up to 2.5 centimeters long. Immature pod color is green, mature color is bright red or purple. Some varieties of birdseye measure up to 175,000 Scoville Heat Units.
Piri piri
Piri piri, Pili pili or Peri peri is the name used in Mozambique to describe the African bird's-eye chili. The variations in spelling derive from the various pronunciations of the word in parts of Africa, although "Piri piri" is the correct spelling in Portuguese.
In Mozambican cuisine, Piri piri is often used in preparing sauces and marinades for roast and grilled dishes, especially chicken and various fish. Piri piri is widely used in a vast number of dishes of Portuguese cuisine.
The name comes from the Tupi language in Brazil, from where Portuguese traders introduced it to Africa along with other species of capsicum, within the wider Columbian exchange

Piri-piri Sauce
This is the hot East African sauce made from dried and soaked piri-piri chillies that is a staple condiment used to accompany many East African soups and stews. Though the origin of this sauce is probably Portuguese, it is now well established as a popular East African condiment and is considered an essential accompaniment to any meal in many households.^{[citation needed]} Essentially identical to Thai pepper "phrik chee fa" ("pepper points at the sky" - they grow pointing upward)