With the winter break round the corner, this recipe comes in time to rescue those breakless moms whose holiday is always a working day in disguise. Majority of the moms would second that. Outings, barbeque get-togethers all sound exciting but again the preps and post activity chores is tiring. So here is a very simply recipe posted for those caring mommys, taken care by Nandos and me.
For those who aren't aware of what Nando's is, I will say "you should Try It". It's a restaurant joint, serving delicious grills, customized to your chosen favorite flavor of peri-peri sauce. The meat is marinated well with a special sauce and then flame-grilled, basted with peri-peri sauce from your chosen heat scale. From extra mild to extra hot!! Well this restaurant is our HOT favorite! We barely speak when we are out there, most talking is done by our fork and knife and that HOT-HOT sauce smother. This barbeque season why not try this effortless yet tasty treat with family and friends and enjoy a win-win carefree holiday. Very simple, all you will have to do is, grab your favorite Nando's Peri-peri sauce bottle, from your supermarket, mix some coconut milk,(use coconut milk powder) marinade the chicken and you are good to go.
Now the most important thing here is the selection of the right sauce that suits you and your family's spice buds. Unless, you are a bunch of top heat (spice)tolerants, let aside the kids, you shouldn't go for the extreme hot sauce. Moderate to mild would be just fine. Inspite of having the tooth for extreme spice, I intentionally picked the extra mild lemon and herb sauce (which is not at all spicy) for this recipe considering general audience. I recommend you to try mild spice though, as you could taste, balance and adjust the spice by adding more or less coconut cream before marinating the chicken into it. Don't worry about the left over marinade mix, it can be used for basting or as dip.
The bonus here is the assorted fruit and veggies that go on skewers with the marinated chicken, making it far more interesting than the ordinary. Here, I have used pineapple chunks, mixed capsicum(red, yellow, green) and sweet potato. Could be a complete meal by itself or good as a starter depending on the portions. Not to forget, healthy and guilt-free indulgence too.
For outdoor barbeque, Cut the fruit-veg and pack it together. Marinade the chicken pieces(I used boneless) pack it seperately. Carry whole pack of bamboo skewers. Wash the bamboo in water for 5 mins before packing, in order to maintain moisture and avoid burning when exposed to flame. Arrange the fruit-veg-chicken on skewers, put it on grill and bast with left over marinade at intervals. The Fruit-veg need not be marinated as it absorbs just enough from the chicken and the basting. Grill till sweet potatoes are done. I grilled it in my oven, for 45 mins. It will take more or less time depending on the heat source. keep checking after 20-30 mins. If you have lots of left over marinade just saute it to a simmer and serve as dip, or serve directly with nando's sauce from bottle or tomato ketchup. Recipe adapted from Nando's Recipes. I have added about a tsp of ginger- garlic paste in the marinade to soothe my Indian heart. You could very well ignore it, tastes good either ways.
Doesn't it look amazing? Far amazing is the taste.
So, go grab that bottle and get going...stayfree, sit back and have fun you deserve!
Ingredients
- Chicken breast- 4(each cut into 4 pieces) washed with turmeric and patted dry.
- Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
- Pineapple chunks-1
- Sweet Potato- 2(washed and cut into chunks with skin on)
- Yellow capsicum-1
- Red capsicum-1
- Green capsicum-1
- Olive oil- 3 tbsp
- Nando's Peri-peri sauce- 1 cup or 250 ml
- Coconut cream- 1/2 cup or 125 ml(made by adding 3-4 tbsp coconut milk in 1/4 cup warm water)
- Bamboo skewers- as required
Directions
- 1In a bowl combine, the olive oil, Nando's Peri -peri sauce, ginger-garlic paste and around 2-3 tbsp of coconut cream. Mix well, check the spice and add more or less coconut cream or sauce as needed. Pour the marinade to the chicken mix well and keep aside for 10 mins. Soak the Bamboo sticks in water for 5 mins.(this avoids burning of stick and maintains moisture)
- 2Cut the Pineapple and peppers to grill size chunks.
- 3Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Arrange the chicken-fruit-veg combo in the bamboo skewers. Drizzle the fruit-veg with some leftover marinade. Place the skewers in the oven to roast with basting at intervals for 45 mins or until the sweet potato is cooked and golden brown. Serve hot with leftover marinade(Simmer leftover marinade) , Tomato Ketchup or Nando's Peri-peri sauce fresh from bottle.
