Piri Piri Starfish

Piri Piri Starfish is the latest book by Tessa Kiros. It is a fascinating read, detailing her life and travels through Portugal, written in true Kiros style – beautiful layout, enchanting writing and utterly drool worthy photography of both food and scenery. A truly wonderful and inspirational read.

After much deliberation about where to begin with this book I decided to cook piri piri chicken and butter rice, but with a few twists and turns of my own.

For speed, convenience and to avoid bones I decided to use diced chicken breasts instead of the jointed chicken pieces Tessa suggests and tossed this cooked chicken through the butter rice once cooked.

For contrast in texture and to enhance the smoky hint of the paprika in the piri piri marinade and the rice I sautéed a little Chorizo (I’m sorry no Portuguese alternative was available in my little patch of rural Staffordshire at such short notice ) to toss through the rice as well; saving a few whole slices to use for presentation purposes.

The meal was delightful, tongue tingling and taste-bud tantalizing, the kind of meal you think you’re going to have far too much of, but everyone keeps going back for more and you wish you’d doubled the quantities.

The rice gave a great counterbalance for the spice of the chicken; being a good base for the variety of textures and flavours running within this meal.

No further accompaniment is needed, other than maybe a tomato salad to give a cool, slightly sweet dimension to the finished dinner.

I would, I think make the dish a wee bit spicier next time, but as the recipe was new to me I decided to ere on the side of caution. A little more heat would easily be taken with the almost creamy but earthy rice.

It went down well with the family too, gaining a 9/10 response. Being a bit of perfectionist (or should I say rather a lot of one – typical Arian you see) I wanted to know what would give the 100% 10/10 response; the answer; a change of location – to be eating in Portugal, or at least somewhere in warm and sunny in the ‘Med’.

The Recipe:

Chicken Piri Piri:

• 2 x 800g chickens, jointed into 4 pieces (I used chicken breasts, cut into large chunks)
• 1 lemon
• 3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• course salt

Basting Sauce:

• 6-8 small dried piri piri chillies (or 3-4 fresh)
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 70g butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons ruby port
• 2 tablespoons whiskey
• Extra ground piri piri (optional)

1. Pat the chicken dry and make a couple of slashes in the thickest part of the meat (if using whole pieces).
2. Make the marinade. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl large enough to hold all the chicken.  Throw in the lemon halves, garlic, oregano, paprika and then the chickens, scattering with salt.  Ensure the chicken is evenly covered with the mixture.
3. Cover and leave for at least half an hour to marinade.
4. Prepare the BBQ or as I did, heat a griddle pan on the stove.
5. Make the basting sauce. Grind the garlic and chillies to a rough paste in a pestle and mortar or food processor, heat the butter in a frying pan and then fry paste this gently until aromatic. Add the other ingredients and allow to bubble until thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning/amount of chili.
6. Shake the chicken of it’s marinade and BBQ or griddle gently until cooked through, basting after about half the cooking time with the piri piri sauce, continue to baste regularly.
7. If using chicken pieces, cut them into 4 pieces prior to serving, drizzled with the extra piri piri sauce.
8. Serve with rice or chips and salad.

Baked Butter Rice:

• 50g butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 250g parboiled rice
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 pinches paprika
• 1 litre boiling vegetable stock

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or the equivalent. 
2. Heat the butter and oil in a flameproof casserole and saute the onion with the bay leaves until softened and sticky.
3. Add the rice, garlic and paprika and stir the rice well, so that it is coated with oil and soaks up the flavours well.
4. Add the stock and season, if required.
5. Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for a few minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.