Peri peri sauce

peri_peri_sauce.jpg

Makes enough for 1 large chicken or 6 pieces of chicken, fish or tofu 

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus soaking time
Cooking time:
30 minutes   

Ingredients
Dried peri peri chillies (10 for hot, 6 for medium and 3 mild) 
100ml olive oil 
4 cloves of garlic , chopped 
1 onion, chopped 
1 tbsp smoked sweet paprika 
1 tbsp paprika 
½ tsp all spice 
1 tsp oregano 
3 tomatoes, skinned and chopped 
2 roasted peppers either ready roasted in a jar or fresh 
2 lemons, juice and zest 
½ tbsp brown vinegar 
2 tbsp sugar 
½ tsp ground black pepper 
Salt 
2 bay leaves

Method
Preheat your oven to 180c. 

Soak your chillies for a couple of hours, simply pour boiling water over and leave. 

If you are not using a jar of peppers then you will need to roast your peppers.  Cut your peppers in half and take out the seeds.  Place the peppers in a roasting tray skin side up and coat in olive oil and cook for 30 minutes.  Place into a bag and leave to go cold. 

To begin, prepare your tomatoes, to skin them cut a cross into the bottom and plunge into boiling water, leave in for a minute then take out and you should easily be able to take off the skin and chop. 

Put a tbsp of oil into a pan and cook the onion on a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute and then add the spices, season and cook for a further minute. 

You now need to blend this, you can either do this by using a food processor or a stick blender. 

Put the onion mixture into the processor, take the chillies out of the water (reserving the water) and put into the food processor along with the tomatoes, roasted peppers, lemon juice and zest, vinegar, sugar, pepper and blend.  It does not need to be super smooth but must be free of large lumps. 

Put the mix back in the pan add the bay leaves and cook for 20 minutes.  You want to cook out the raw taste and thicken it slightly.  At the end of the cooking time check the seasoning. 

Remove the bay leaves and put the mixture back into the blender and blend until smooth.  You now need to slowly add the oil while blending, this will thicken the mixture by emulsifying it.