I’ll be honest. This is pretty much a Piri Piri rip off. BUT. I have mucked around with the classic Piri Piri recipe in this case meaning it won’t take the roof of your mouth off…..unless you’re into that. The first time I had Piri Piri in Portugal I was prompted by a waiter it was the best dish that Portugal had to offer…..I’m still looking for him….and that night spent in a Portuguese A&E is burned (literally) onto my soul.

This recipe is altogether more tame.

For 2
4 Chicken thighs (skin on or off – you decide)
2 large sweet peppers – the long skinny ones, roughly chopped
1/2 courgette – sliced
1 Red Onion
4 cloves of Garlic
1 tps Salt
6-8 whole pepper corns
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tps of White Wine vinegar
2 tbs paprika (sweet or smoked doesn’t matter)
1 tps sugar
2 good lugs of olive oil
1 tbs Greek yogurt.
Chili powder – your own personal preference, if you like the real Piri Piri then sling in a whole Scotch Bonnet.!
Cream or yogurt to finish

Blitz everything together to make your marinade, set aside.

In a deep pan season and seal your chicken then cover with the marinade. Saute the pepper and courgette and loosen up (deglace) with a little chicken stock. Bop the marinaded chicken in with the peppers and courgettes. At this stage you can sling in some cream/yogurt. Cover your pan with tin foil, oven on full, cook out for roughly 25-30 minutes. Periodically take the pan out and baste your chicken, there will be a lot of liquid as the pepper and courgette give up there water during the cooking.

The longer you leave this cooking the ‘meltier’ the chicken will get. Serve this with rice or at this time of the year roasted new potatoes.