18 December 2013

Nando’s Smokey Portuguese BBQ Peri-Peri Marinade (@NandosUK Waitrose) [By @SpectreUK]


I must point out that Nando's is a favourite restaurant of mine. The only problem is that it can be difficult to find a seat in our local restaurant as it can get pretty busy on the evenings. That said, I'm not surprised as I've never had a bad meal there and I expect no-one else has either. I have a favourite meal too; medium hot Peri-Peri half chicken with Peri-Peri covered chips and side salad. We usually share some olives to start with whilst we wait for our mains and keep topping up my refillable lemonade. I then pick every morsel of chicken off the bone. It can take a while, but it tastes so good I just can't leave any.

Cinabar found this new Nando’s Smokey Portuguese BBQ Peri-Peri Marinade in a local supermarket. The label recommended to marinade chicken, fish, beef or lamb for fifteen minutes prior to cooking. I told her for starters that I wasn't much of a marinader, let alone much of a cook. I can burn boiled eggs and the amount of times I've given myself food poisoning over the years it's a wonder I'm not dead or undead! The label also stated that you can barbeque, baste, grill or stir fry with this marinade, which all makes for a very versatile sauce. At this I decided to try this marinade initially as a sauce with chips! I know, you're probably tutting at this, but I wanted chips that Saturday night and Cinabar's Mom didn't feel like cooking or marinading. I did manage to get some chips out of her though! ;-)

After tackling the annoying plastic covered lid on the top of the bottle there was a garlic and chilli smell to the thick bitty textured brown coloured sauce. I wasn't sure what the bits were, they looked liked flecks of garlic and minute pieces of African Bird’s Eye Chilli. There was a smokey blend of tomatoes, garlic, and rich per-peri flavour in the taste with a sweet aftertaste of honey. This marinade was not a classic barbeque flavoured sauce. It didn't taste like a regular run of the mill BBQ sauce but rather like a different style of BBQ sauce altogether, as there was too much garlic in the flavour for that. Not overpowering garlic in a sense, but certainly not for the faint hearted vampire. There was a mild to medium heat to the marinade and I reckon that it would be best on chicken wings as an alternative to those I always enjoy so much in Chiquitos. This was a lovely marinade that went perfectly with my chips and the next night I mixed the marinade into a bowl of baked beans in tomato sauce, which was gorgeous. I would definitely have this marinade again and may hopefully convince someone to marinade me some chicken wings. Fingers crossed anyway! ;-)

Information on the label;
270g glass bottle. Marinade was made in South Africa with no artificial flavours, colours, preservatives or added MSG. Ingredients included; water, sugar, tomato paste, garlic, white vinegar, thickener (corn starch), vegetable oil, salt, lemon, honey, stabilisers (xanthan gum, propylene glycol alginate), Spices (including Bird’s Eye Chilli), Colouring (Caramel), Flavouring (Smoke), Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (Soya), and Antioxidant (Calcium Disodium EDTA).
By Spectre

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