Piri Piri Oil & Piri Piri Mayo

Whilst in Lisbon, we fell in love with piri piri. It's a pepper mainly cultivated in Africa and it has a smoky sweet flavor and it's amazing. We bought a bunch from a vendor at a market and brought them home and the first thing I made was a flavored oil, and subsequently a flavored mayonnaise with the flavored oil. We enjoyed piri piri oil at multiple restaurants as a condiment on chicken and sandwiches and it's my new favorite thing.

You don't have to go to Portugal or Africa to get your hands on piri piri peppers. Well, you do if you want the fresh peppers. The dried peppers are pretty readily available on Amazon.

Ingredients:
piri piri oil
¼ cup dried piri piri peppers
1 cup canola oil

piri piri mayo
1 egg yolk
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon ground piri piri
½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup piri piri oil

¼ cup canola oil
½ teaspoon honey

Start by gently crushing the peppers and add them to a pot with oil. Pop the whole thing onto a hob over low heat. Gently heat the oil for 15 to 20 minutes or until the oil smells fragrant and is tinted a bit red. Let the oil cool completely before pouring into an airtight container.

To make the mayo, you just need that flavored oil, a little more neutral oil, an egg yolk, lemon juice, and a clove of garlic.

Finely mince the garlic and add to a bowl with the egg yolk and lemon juice. Whisk to combine.

Slowly whisk in the piri piri oil and the plain canola oil until an emulsion forms.

We used both the oil and mayo as a sauce on some grilled chicken. It was spicy and fantastic.

Here are the recipe pages: