Peri-Peri Chicken Livers
Served with toasted bread to mop up the sauce, peri-peri chicken livers can be enjoyed as a meal on their own for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Alternatively, serve them with rice in starter portions as part of a more expansive braaied meal. The peri-peri sauce recipe as given below can also be used with prawns, steak, fish or chicken.
WHAT YOU NEED (serves 4 people as a starter or light meal)
For the chicken livers:
• 1 tot oil
• 1 tot butter
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 500 g chicken livers
• 1 tot brandy
• peri-peri sauce (see below)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tot parsley (finely chopped)
For the peri-peri sauce:
• 1 tot oil
• 1 tot vinegar
• 1 tot lemon juice
• 1 tot water
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chilli or peri-peri powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
• 1 red chilli (finely chopped)
WHAT TO DO
• Using a fireproof pan or cast-iron pot, heat the oil and butter.
• Add the chopped onion and fry until soft. This takes about 4 minutes.
• Add the chicken livers, then fry over high heat for about 5–7 minutes until they start to brown on all sides.
• Next add the brandy and cook for another minute or two.
• Add the peri-peri sauce and then cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce starts to reduce and becomes slightly sticky.
• Now add the cream, stir, and heat through until it just starts to boil again. Take off the fire and top with chopped parsley. Serve straight from the pot, preferably with bread toasted over the coals.
Make the peri-peri sauce:
Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Use all of this sauce in the chicken liver recipe. If the chicken livers don’t taste hot enough for you, throw in some more chilli powder or chopped chillies.
AND …
You can buy chicken livers in any supermarket, usually frozen but sometimes fresh. Check the label and go for ‘cleaned and trimmed’ livers where you can. If you buy them frozen, first thaw them completely. Next you should clean them, if necessary, by cutting away any sinew. Lastly you should rinse them thoroughly and then drain off the excess water. But infinitely easier is to buy them fresh!
