Nothing prepared us for this wedding gift. Here we were opening gifts we had received from friends and family when I picked up a large gift. I looked at the name tag and gasped! It was from my cousin and his wife who lived in South Africa. Why was I surprised? Well, because we had just been chatting about two weeks before the wedding on our family whatsapp group chat and he promised he would get us something. Automatically, I presumed it would probably be a cash gift he would send wirelessly or perhaps some present after the wedding. This was very unexpected! When i ripped open the wrapping we both gasped and went like “Oh Wow!” 😱😳😵😄
I hadn't seen anything like it before and I doubt my hubby had either. A variety of spices packed into test-tube like bottles with the name ‘African Spices’ stared back at our astonished faces. We burst out laughing in delight. This was insanely beautiful. 😍 Just have a look at it and testify.
The spices were a tangy mix of different spices for different meats and foods. It was a product of South Africa and was by a company called Kalk Bay foods (www.eatart.co.za). They had cleverly combined different African spices.
I almost felt like cooking right away! 🏇💨💨
The back of the packaging showed which spice could be used for which meats or meals and of course which herbs were in each tube. There was a spice for every meal I could think of. A spice for fish? It had it. A spice for pork? It was there. A spice for vegetables? Definitely. I
I knew my cousin’s wife was behind this. And I was so right as she confessed it during aWhatsApp chat. Our thanks was so profuse and endless. Endless.
A day finally came for me to try out my first spice tube and I chose the Peri Peri because I had bought some chicken wings and this spice was going to be absolutely purrfect.
The ingredients in the Peri Peri were enough for me not to add any other spice other than vinegar and lime. It was a spicy mix of chillies, blackpeppercorn seeds, onion, cumin, lemon oil, paprika oil, brown sugar, sea salt etc.
Here’s my recipe for this wonderful oven-grilled chicken wings which I paired naturally with fried yam chips. You really cant go wrong with grilled chicken wings and yam chips. Almost like Honeysuckle's but better 😬😁
Preparation time : 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Meal for two.
Ingredients
For Marinating the Chicken Wings
Peri Peri dry spice
10-12 pieces of fresh or frozen chicken wings
1 spoon of malt vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice because there was no lemon.
1/2 tsps salt
For the Fried Yam
1 tuber of yam
For the Pepper Sauce
Store-bought black pepper or shito
Fresh Kpakposhito for the green sauce
1/2 onion, chopped up for the green sauce.
Directions
1. Wash chicken wings in room temperature water and remove any feathers at the tips if sighted.
2. Dab the wings dry using a kitchen tissue.
3. Add in one spoon of vinegar
4. Dash in the lime juice
5. Sprinke in 2 tbsp Peri Peri spice and mix in really well with both hands. Store in fridge for 10-30mins depending on when needed. Mine went in for 30 mins and I used the rest of the time to prepare the rest of the meal.
To make the fried yam:
1. Slice yam into round slices and chop that into strips for the fry-look.
2. Pour hot water over the slices and let sit for five minutes.
3. Place a saucepan on fire and fill with about 3 cups of sunflower oil.
4. Once its hot, fry the yam, tossing every five minutes to ensure all sides are crisp but not browned.
4. Remove and place on kitchen tissue to soak away the oil.
To make the green chilli sauce
- Grind the Kpakposhito also called ‘ Scotch bonnet pepper’ in an asanka. You can try the easy way using a food processor but that’s sacrilege for me.
- Add chopped onions and grind together. Add a pinch of salt and spoonful of olive oil for freshness.
Time to grill the wings!
- Pre-heat your gas oven for 5 minutes
- Lightly cover the base of the oven tray with oil to prevent wings from sticking awfully to it.
- Place wings, giving enough distance between each.
- For basting, I quickly mixed a spoonful of garlic-flavoured olive oil with vinegar and touched it lightly over the wings.
I simply cannot wait to try out the rest of the spices with other meals. Maybe charcoal-grilled pork will be next. Or perhaps grilled seafood. Hmm..what of pan-fried grouper. Chai!
