Nando's in My Kitchen

It has been a long, long, time since I ate at Nando's. Quite honestly, I did not find Nando's chicken all that special. The flavors did not make an impression on me and I never went back.

But Nando's is still going strong proving that there are many people who enjoy their chicken. I am constantly reminded of Nando's existence every time I go to the supermarket because I see bottles and bottles of Nando's Peri-Peri sauce.

Though I was tempted to grab a bottle, on second thoughts I never did.

So what possessed me to finally succumb to that temptation? Well, somebody cooked Nando's chicken, served with roasted tomatoes and potato wedges. That meal looked like something I would be very happy to eat. That's it. I had to get me a bottle!

This one.

That weekend I asked my partner to take me to the market because after eating chicken from the market, I will never buy chicken from the supermarket again. There is a world of difference in terms of freshness, texture and taste. 

Although I could have used just the peri-peri sauce as marinade, I decided to add on by marinating the chicken the way I did here. The marinade is made with smoked paprika, lemon juice, garlic, ginger and salt. I let the chicken marinate overnight in the fridge.

To roast the chicken, I put a wire rack on the baking tray. I used two chicken legs and two wings. Since wings cook faster, I gave the legs a 10 minute head start.

The oven was set at 200C for 40 minutes and after 20 minutes of roasting, I basted the legs and wings with the bottled peri-peri sauce.

The result? Very nice except that even at "medium" the sauce still packed a powerful punch. I would have bought "mild" had it been available.

I can just imagine what the XX Hot and Extra Hot would be like. Die!

I served this Nando's chicken with roasted sweet potato wedges and a mango tomato salsa. This roasted chicken made for an unforgettable meal not just because it was so good but because it was so spicy hot!

Homemade Nando's Chicken

Recipe source : Phong Hong

Ingredients :

- 2 chicken legs and 2 chicken wings

- 2 tbsp smoked paprika

- 4 cloves garlic

- 1 inch ginger

- juice of 1/2 lemon

- 1/4 tsp salt (because the peri-peri sauce is already adequately salty)

- 1 cup Nando's peri-peri sauce

Method :

1. Pound garlic and ginger to form a paste.

2. Mixed the pounded garlic and ginger with the smoked paprika, lemon juice and salt to make the marinade.

3. Put the chicken legs and wings into a freezer bag and pour the marinade into the bag. Use your hand to mix and coat the chicken with the marinade.

4. Marinate for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.

5. Before roasting, bring the chicken out to room temperature.

6. Preheat the oven to 200C.

6. Prepare a line baking tray and place a baking rack over it.

7. Since chicken wings take a shorter time to cook, place the chicken legs on the wire rack first and roast for 10 minutes before adding the wings onto the baking rack.

8. Roast for another 10 minutes and then baste the chicken with the Nando's peri-peri sauce. Do this every 5 minutes or so until chicken is cooked through.