WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD: FRANGO PIRI PIRI !!

Some Beautiful Traditional Portuguese Tableware

We love Portuguese food and used to frequent a small neighborhood restaurant, O'Fado, to enjoy it frequently. As the platters of clams, redolent of garlic and wine, linguica flaming in brandy and bacalao, glistening with fruity olive oil were served, we sipped our vinho verde and were in food heaven! On weekends there were live Portuguese singers, and entire families with babies falling asleep on nana's lap listened, and sang and talked (in Portuguese, of coarse) and ate...and this transport into another culture required no passport!

Eventually we took a trip to Albufeira on the Portuguese Algarve and discovered that, yes, our food at O'Fado was indeed authentic Curiously, one dish missing from the repertoire was Frango Piri Piri. There were signs for it everywhere, some handwritten, some in blazing neon, some highlighted on menus. It seems to be one of the most popular dishes, (along with Cataplana which deserves it own post later), so, we of course planned to sample it during our stay.

There is a lot of confusion about just where and when the Piri Piri came into European/Portuguese cooking. It is the African word for "Pepper-pepper" specifically referring to the "African Bird's Eye Pepper", very hot!
In a nutshell, the Portuguese spearheaded navigational exploration in the 15th century. All one needs to do is stand on the precipice at Cabo Sao Vicente, "the end of the world" where the European continent meets the Atlantic to see from whence the inspiration came, and appreciate the fearlessness of those early explorers! Africa was one of the principal places explored and colonized by the Portuguese.
"Piri-piri" dishes came from Mozambique and Angola, Portuguese colonies, and became part of Portuguese cuisine, although the pepper was introduced to Africa by the Portuguese after they honed in on the Arab Spice Trade. Maybe this was too confusing, so O'Fado left Piri-Piri off the menu!

With the popularity of Frango Piri Piri in mind, I am going to tell this story...it may be a "you had to be there" type of tale, but here it is nevertheless.

One day, on our vacation in the Algarve, we decided to visit some of the hilly towns above the coast for a change of scenery. Since we like to take roads which are off the beaten track, sometimes we get into trouble or encounter interesting dilemmas. These will serve other tales for other times.
This time, a bunch of chickens in the middle of the road impeded our progress. Steep slopes on either side of the road made swerving around them impossible. So we did the next best thing; loudly honked the horn of the car. The chickens glanced at us and went right back to cackling and whatever it was that they were doing. Next, we got out of the car and yelled and stomped on the ground. It startled them, but they continued occupying the road and ignoring us. Finally, my husband decided to "charge" them with the car, not before I angrily threatened, "FRANGO PIRI PIRI", and miraculously, they scattered to the side of the road and we continued our journey in peace.

Of course, we dined on, you know, FPP that night...with gusto!

YUM!!!

You may not be able to find Piri Piri peppers, but any hot chile will be an acceptable substitute or even red pepper flakes. HEAT is the point.

Recipes vary for the sauce. There are as many as there are cooks most likely, but they all include olive oil or butter, lemon juice and/ or vinegar, garlic and of course, lots of hot peppers.

Here's mine for marinating 2 chicken breasts and a little extra for an unctuous sauce after grilling.

PIRI PIRI MARINADE
Nando's and Vervacious are good brands of Piri Piri Sauce

PIRI PIRI MARINADE
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
4 cloves garlic or 2 very large cloves, minced
salt and pepper
piri piri sauce or chili flakes to taste, at least 1 tablespoon

Whisk ingredients together and marinate chicken at least for 4 hours, the longer the better.
Reserve a little for later or double the recipe.

Grill Bone-in Chicken Pieces with Skin on a hot grill, basting with sauce as needed. I use breasts because that is what we like, but they need the bone and skin for flavor and moisture.

This marinade is used for shrimp as well. One would think the shrimp would be the more popular dish especially on the Algarve, but chicken dominates the scene. Perhaps they don't need to "threaten" the shrimp, so it can be offered more quietly...

Marinate for at least 4 hours

Once again, YUM!