Thanksgiving is around the corner. As much as I like the drama of bringing a whole bird to the table with delicious, moist stuffing inside, I am admittedly wary of roasting said bird on my own. True to my community of fellow desis I prefer my meats succulent. So, whole roast chicken was duly prepared last thanksgiving. This year though we’ve decidedly pushed ourselves in the desi corner (imagine moving toward the margins of the political scale – that’s the analogy I am going for) and chosen to eat more with our hands. After all what’s the point of a feast if you can’t lick your fingers clean? Hence, peri peri chicken wings (or legs or thighs, whatever you fancy) are going to stand in for the Thanksgiving Turkey.
Peri Peri Sauce
For a while I had heard of the peri peri sauce but hadn’t tried it. A few weeks ago I chanced upon a bottle of the stuff by a brand called Quinta’s. Expecting a real kick to the tastebuds, I cautiously tried a drop of it. To my surprise and relief it wasn’t hot like a naga pepper sauce, instead tangy and slightly sweet with just enough heat to keep you coming back for more. Ideal for lathering on finger foods, right? So I thought. This experiment with a new ingredient has worked out really well and has been repeated already. Sharing the recipe here. Use it for marinating all sorts of chicken cuts, bone in, bone out, lean or fatty. So far I’ve used it for chicken wings and drumsticks.
Total Time: 50 minutes
Prep: 10 minutes, Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients for Peri Peri Chicken Wings
- Chicken wings 6 to 8
Marinade:
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Salt 1 tsp
- Ground pepper 1 tsp
- Garlic Powder 1/2 tsp
- Onion Powder 1/2 tsp
- Peri Peri Chilli Sauce 2 tbsp
- Honey 2 tbsp
Method
Before you begin: make sure the chicken is thawed. Use freshly bought chicken or thaw frozen chicken in the refrigerator.
Olive oil and Peri Peri Sauce 
Adding honey to the marinade 
Mixed and ready to use
Let’s begin with the marinade. In a large bowl, big enough to hold the chicken, mix all the ingredients except the chicken – olive oil, peri peri sauce, honey, garlic and onion powder and cracked pepper and salt.
Chicken wings and drumsticks 
Coated in the peri peri marinade 
Covered for refrigerating
Put the chicken in the marinade. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 4-6 hours or overnight if possible. I’ve also made this chicken with only an hour of marination and it worked just as well. If you plan to cook it within the next few hours, leave it at room temperature, provided the weather is cool. You’re the best judge for your local conditions.
Roasting the chicken
Preheat the oven to 400 F. While the oven preheats take out chicken from the fridge and let it sit on the kitchen counter. This will help bring it closer to room temperature and eventually cook the meat more evenly. Growing up in India, before the era of internet and blogs, that’s what my parents always did. Now the same advice is all over our favorite food websites!
Ready for the oven 
In they go at 400F 
Midway, crisping up!
Once the oven is ready, place chicken in a baking tray or oven safe utensil like a cast iron skillet. Place it in the centre of the middle rack. This time I used both chicken wings and drumsticks. Double the volume of ingredients based on the amount of chicken you want to cook.
I often bake vegetables and chicken simultaneously. The difference being vegetables cook in half the time.
Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. At that point, turn the pieces. Cook for another 20 minutes at 350 F. I do this so that the wings crisp up in the first half and then cook slowly and thoroughly for the next half.
If you find that your oven is heating up too much, each oven has hot spots, and burning wings, then turn the pieces sooner and move the tray away from the hot spot.
Peri Peri Chicken Wings 
A different Thanksgiving dinner
Once done, plate the wings. Spoon chicken drippings left in the tray over the chicken and serve!
Roast sweet potato and delicata squash 
Garlic sauteed broccolini 
Greens with beets, walnuts and fig
Thanksgiving dinner for two with Peri Peri chicken wings!
For our mini thanksgiving meal I served peri peri chicken wings with roasted sweet potatoes and delicata squash with garlic sautéed broccolini and a salad of mixed greens, beetroot, figs and walnuts.
- Chicken wings 6 to 8
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Salt 1 tsp
- Ground pepper 1 tsp
- Garlic Powder 1/2 tsp
- Onion Powder 1/2 tsp
- Peri Peri Chilli Sauce 2 tbsp
- Honey 2 tbsp
- In a large bowl, big enough to hold the chicken, mix all the ingredients for the marinade – olive oil, peri peri sauce, honey, garlic and onion powder and cracked pepper and salt.
- Add chicken, mix well to coat all the pieces then cover and refrigerate overnight or marinate for as long as possible, as little as 45 minutes is enough.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and bring chicken to room temperature if it is still in the fridge.
- Place chicken on a baking tray or oven safe utensil such as a cast iron skillet.
- Place this on the middle rack of the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, turn the pieces and continue to cook for another 20 minutes as a reduced temperature of 350 F.
- Once done, plate, spoon over as much of the drippings as possible serving it with a salad, roast vegetables and some bread.
