The Viking Takes on the Big Boys: Peri Peri Chicken with Spicy Rice and Garlic Peas

Apparently, according to a piece I read in The Observer, there is a thing called a Tinchy Strider.  He is friends with a Chipmunk it seems, and they go to a restaurant with a whole bunch of other celebrities to eat fine food.  Such fine luminaries such as, er, JLS and N-Dubz, David Beckham and Pixie Lott.  Mary J. Bilge.  Oprah Winfrey.  A gentleman called Jay-Zed, who I’m told has one less than a hundred problems, but thankfully a female canine is not one of them.

So where to these towering giants of human endeavour go to eat?  Perhaps they flock, followed by a press of paparazzi, to Heston’s new place?  Maybe they sprint, for fear of being unable to get a table, to Raymond’s gaff (and who would blame them)?  Or do they travel in cars with blacked out windows to restaurants too unspeakably cool to name, to be cooked for by chefs whose signature dishes involve piles of swan marinated in the tears of unicorns?

No.  They all wander down their local high streets, and they go to Nando’s.

Nando’s.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy a Nando’s as much as the next person (as long as the next person really enjoys Nando’s), but now I have to run the risk of bumping in to JLS when I go to get a half chicken (hot, natch) and spicy rice, and that’s not on.  Before I know it, Justin Bieber will be eating in Byron or Miley Cyrus will get a taste for the food at the Half Moon in Shaftesbury, and then I’ll be stuffed.

"Massive Cocks"

In 2010, there were over 200 Nando’s restaurants throughout the UK, serving a whopping 800,000 customers every week.  Some of them are apparently not celebrities, and all of them seem to have a fierce brand loyalty that some chains of fast food restaurants can only dream about.   But what if you don’t want to run the risk of walking in to a Dizzee Rascal?  What you do is, you make it at home.

Gone are the bottles of mass produced hot sauce!  Celebrities will be conspicuous by their absence!  No more queuing for ages at a till while a tourist works out if they want medium or hot!  This week:

The Viking Takes on the Big Boys: Peri Peri Chicken with Spicy Rice and Garlic Peas

First thing’s first, then, you’re going to need STUFF. On the shopping list this week:

1)      Chicken legs (one per person, unless you’re ravenously hungry)

2)      Peas (about a cupful will be enough for 2 people)

3)      Rice

4)      Red Chillis (between 6 and 10, depending on how hot you want it)

5)      4 cloves of minced garlic

6)      Garlic sauce

7)      Tabasco sauce

8)      Dark Soy sauce

9)      Coriander leaves, chopped

10)   Curry powder

11)   4 tbsp olive oil

12)   Lemon juice

13)   Salt

This is alarmingly, terrifyingly easy to do.  It doesn’t look the same as it does in Nando’s  (that’s down to the fact that everthing here is chopped and mixed together rather than being made in to a paste, and even then that’s only because I don’t have a blitzer in my arsenal at the moment.  Besides, this looks, I think, rustic and a little more authentic.  But maybe I’m just making excuses) and it’s a bit sweeter while retaining all of that lovely heat.  What it is, though, is home-made, and that’s a bonus.

One final excuse – this chicken should be grilled on a charcoal grill for the best effect.  I don’t have a BBQ at the moment, so this is a roasted Peri Peri, which again brings out the sweetness in the Chilli, but doesn’t give the Nando’s type colouring on the skin of the chicken.  I’m sure you understand.

Right, let’s cook!

Method

First, make your Peri Peri sauce.  In to a bowl, place the chopped chilli (make sure to chop most of it finely, but leave some large pieces too), minced garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, coriander, lemon juice, salt, parsley and Tabasco sauce.  Mix well together, and then add the chicken legs.  Make sure they are well coated in the marinade, cover, and then leave for 24 hours in the fridge.

*24 Hours Later*

Preheat your oven to gas mark 7 (220c).  Roast the chicken legs for about 40-45 minutes, until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the meat is pierced with a fork.

And now, a big old hairy cheat of a cheat.  Get some Uncle Ben’s boil in the bag rice.  Follow the cooking instructions on the packet (usually about 10 minutes at the simmer).  In the water, add a heaped spoon of curry powder.  This will give the rice a vibrant, yellow colour and a nice, spicy flavour.  Drain, empty the cooked rice back in to the pan and fluff with a fork.  Stir through some bits of chopped chilli, parsley and some finely chopped spring onion, and you’re done!

Finally, the peas.  Again, I don’t care if you think it’s weird, but frozen peas are the absolute best.  Boil for 2-5 minutes until bright green, drain the water, and then mash the peas lightly with a potato masher.  Add a glug of garlic sauce, a dash of Tabasco, and a few bits of chopped chilli.

Serve all together on the same plate.  Great, big, hungry Viking sized portions packed full of spicy, aromatic flavours are the order of the day here.  Best eaten with a cool European lager – if you’re really after that authentic Portuguese experience then I recommend you try a bottle of Sagres, it’s very nice indeed.

If you eat this out in the sunshine, you might almost be able to fool yourself that you’re on holiday, soaking up the rays and forgetting about the rest of the world.  And if you can achieve that for about five minutes after a hard day at work, then so much the better.

I’ll be back next week with a Great British Classic.  Yes, folks, summer’s here, so what better way to celebrate than by making a Toad in the Hole with Onion Gravy?  Don’t answer that, I already know.

Til then,

Viking