Piri Piri Perfect Chicken

Peri-Peri Chicken, Halloumi Chips and Peri-Peri Dipping Sauce

By making your own Peri-Peri chicken you avoid the use of refined oils and sugar. You can use any cut of chicken such as breast, wings, legs or thighs or joint a chicken yourself and you will have something for everyone. The other half of the pepper can be cut into sticks and is lovely with the dip. If you have time, marinate the chicken in the sauce for 30 minutes to get the flavour into it but it is almost as delicious by cooking straight after basting. We have used a little honey to get a little sweetness into the sauce but leave it out if you are very low-carb. As for the chillies, I have specified the tiny Thai bird’s eye chillies but I have made an equally punchy sauce with a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes or large hot red chillies. The important thing is that you taste the sauce as you make it and adjust the heat accordingly. The cooking will lessen the heat slightly so bump up the heat to allow for that.

Serves 6

1 kilo chicken pieces

4 tablespoons Greek yoghurt

For the marinade

Half a red pepper or 3 mild red chillies, stems, cores and seeds removed

3 garlic cloves

4 to 6 red Thai bird’s eye chillies or 1very hot red chilli or 2 teaspoons of chilli flakes, to taste

2 teaspoons mild honey

Juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a food processor or chop the red pepper garlic and chillies a very finely and add to the remaining ingredients.

Take out a third of the mixture and set aside for the dip.

Put the chicken pieces into a large mixing bowl and spoon over two-thirds of the marinade. Stir through evenly, cover the bowl and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes or up to overnight (but 30 minutes is all you need).

To make the Peri-Peri Dipping Sauce mix the remaining marinade with the yoghurt and taste for seasoning. This will be the dip for the halloumi chips.

Heat the oven to 220oC/200oC fan/gas mark 7. Lay the marinated chicken pieces onto a roasting tray, skin side up, and put into the oven to cook through. Chicken tenders only take around 15 minutes. The breast and wings will take between 20 to 30 minutes. Allow around 45 minutes for the thighs and legs.

Remove from the oven, check the chicken is cooked through and allow the meat to rest in a warm place for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Per serving: 5.9g carbs, 1.1g fibre, 31g protein, 27g fat, 390kcal

 

Dry frying halloumi

Cut the halloumi cheese into chips, cubes or slices as you wish. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the cheese to the pan and allow to cook. Water sometimes comes out of the cheese, allow this to evaporate away. Turn the cheese when it is browned until it becomes golden all over (or at least on most sides if you have cubes). Use straight away or the cheese becomes firm and squeaky again quickly.

 

Per 30g serving: 0.5g carbs, 0g fibre, 7g protein, 7.1g fat, 93 kcal