Charcoal Chicken with Piri-piri Sauce

Description:
Food Safari on SBS is one of my favourite cooking shows and the show is hosted by Meave O'Meara. Whenever I watched the episode, I'm definitely salivating. One day, I watched the show on Portuguese foods. Damn! The foods looks so mouth watering! The charcoal chicken, in particular.

Finally, I have the kettle bbq with rotisserie and the grill basket. My husband and I bought the kettle bbq from BBQs Plus in Hampton. The only thing is to get the grill basket which is not so commonly available. We had to go from one store to another to get the grill basket and finally, we found it at Mega Mitre 10 in Chelsea Heights.

Anyway, here is my adaptation of the charcoal chicken. The recipe is not that much different from the original source anyway. It's just so yuuuummmyyyy.... moist and tender, too. Trust me!



Ingredients:
1 (about 1.8kg) whole chicken
Some salt to sprinkle on the chicken


Marinade
8 cloves garlic, chopped
0.25 tsp salt
Zest of 1 small lemon
Juice of 3 small lemons
2 fresh bay leaf, discard stalk
2 tsp sweet paprika powder
2 shots Jack Daniel's whiskey
50 g soft butter


Piri Piri Sauce
3 birdseye chillies, chopped finely
0.25 tsp table salt
Juice of 1 small lemon
100ml olive oil, Lupi extra virgin
2 Tbsp garlic powder (not crushed garlic as the mixture will be too runny)







Directions:
Marinade:
Mix all ingredients in a measuring jug. Blend with a stab mixer to make the emulsion.


Chicken:
Trim away excess fat. Then use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to cut the chicken through the breastbone. Open out, turn over and flatten by pressing down with your hand along the backbone.

Make a small cut under each wing to help it flatten further. Make several incisions in the flesh with a sharp knife. This will allow the flesh to absorb the marinade and allow fat to drain. Prick all over with a large fork.

Brush both sides with the marinade and sprinkle with salt. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 – 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Piri-piri sauce:
Mix all ingredients in a small bowl with a small whisk.

Put the chicken in a grill basket. Cook over a charcoal BBQ on rotisserie (or any hot grill if you don’t have a BBQ), turning frequently and basting continuously with the remaining marinade until both sides are golden brown – approximately 25 minutes.

Brush the chicken with the piri-piri sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Prick the chicken with a knife, if the liquid is clear, the chicken is cooked.

Cut the chicken into pieces with kitchen scissors and brush with Piri Piri sauce.

Serve with fresh salad :D and... mint candy ;-p