Feed your fire
~ Nando’s tagline ~
Oh how I love the very special flavour of Nando’s Peri-peri chicken! South Africans have loved Nando’s since the late 1980s and the brand has become a global favourite. Not only do we eat the delicious flame-grilled Peri-peri chicken, but we also stock up on their sauces and grocery items. So it won’t surprise you that I almost always have a bottle of Nando’s Peri-peri sauce in my kitchen. Which is how I came to make this Creamy Peri-peri Chicken recipe. I was browsing Pinterest for something interesting to do with chicken when I found a copycat Nando’s recipe. I wasn’t interested in recreating their recipe though. The recipe on Pinterest just gave me the idea to use Nando’s Peri-peri sauce to make my chicken interesting.
No more boring Chicken and Rice
As I mentioned in my Crumbed Hake Bake post, my husband and I only eat red meat on weekends and my daughters stick to chicken or vegetarian food. My daughters always joke that we eat chicken and rice at least once a week. To be honest, the other nights are usually fish and rice, chicken and pasta or a vegetarian meal. So we really need some recipes to make chicken interesting. At least with this Creamy Peri-peri Chicken recipe, there is no more boring chicken and rice and you can serve it with whatever starch you like! It also helps with keeping the half-used condiment bottles in our fridge under control!
Mozambican Portuguese flavours rule!
I have a thing for Prego sauce as many South Africans do. The combination of peri-peri, garlic, lemon and tomato is just the best. So it wasn’t hard to take a Nando’s Peri-peri sauce, add some more of those Mozambican Portuguese flavours and come up with a delicious, easy weeknight supper that had everyone asking for seconds! Of course it is up to you which Nando’s sauce you use. I have tried mild and hot and had to settle on mild as everyone in my family didn’t love the fire as much as I do. You do you though and if you choose to feed the fire, it’s all fine by me!
Creamy Peri-peri Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- olive oil for frying
- 1-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 chilli, chopped See note*
- 2-3 colourful sweet peppers, chopped Red, orange, green or red will all do
- 6-8 skinless, deboned chicken breasts, cubed Deboned thighs also work well
- 1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
- 1 t sweet paprika
- 1 t smoked paprika You can also use peri-peri spice if you prefer
- 200 ml Nando's peri-peri sauce
- ⅔ c pouring cream
- 250 g white button mushrooms, sliced * optional
- ¼ c water
- salt and pepper to taste
- squeeze of lemon juice
- chopped parsley to serve
Instructions
- Fry the onion in a large pan over medium heat until translucent.
- Add the garlic and peppers and stir-fry some more.
- Add the chicken cubes and fry until golden, adding more oil if necessary.
- Add some salt and pepper to taste, tomato paste and both types of paprika.
- Add the sliced mushrooms if you are using them and let the pan come back up to heat.
- Add the peri-peri sauce and stir through. Once the sauce starts to bubble, lower the heat and add the cream. Thin down with water if necessary.
- Let the chicken and sauce simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should thicken slightly and all the chicken cubes should be cooked through.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the pan and scatter some chopped parsley over before serving on rice, pasta or crusty bread. Keep some extra Nando's sauce ready for the addicts!
Notes
- If you are brave you can use an African Bird's Eye chilli here. It is however hard to tell just how spicy they are, so use whatever green or red chilli you have at hand, or use dried chilli flakes if you don't have fresh chilli. You can also leave this out if you are cooking for people who need a milder spice level.
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