Piri piri (or peri peri / peli-peli) chicken, a very popular Portuguese dish, is traditionally made with piri piri chilli peppers which originated in South Africa, and were imported to Portugal from two Portuguese colonies, Angola and Mozambique. However, you can use any hot chilli such as bird’s eye chilli, or a even chilli paste (I used sambal olek here) to make the marinade. Allow the chicken to marinate for 4-6 hours for the optimum flavor and texture. You don't want to marinate it longer than overnight as the marinade contains accid which will result more stringy and dry chicken if you leave it too long. Serve this easy one-pan traybake with rice (to soak up the extra sauce), a salad or potatoes for a wonderful weekday meal.
This particular chicken lollipop recipe is a Indo-Chinese favourite appetizer where frenched chicken wings are marinated, baked (or fried) until crisp and tossed with a sticky sweet and hot sauce (harrissa honey sauce). Simply put, chicken lollipops are the fried chicken wings but with a more distinct look and spicy flavour.
The name “chicken lollipop” is referring to how the chicken wings look after trimming. To achieve the lollipop appearance, the meat on the chicken wing is cut loose from the bone end and pushed down, a culinary technique known as “frenching.” The recipe is actually very simple. The hardest part of the recipe is to form the chicken lollipops from chicken wings. If you plan to make a huge batch for a crowd, fry the chicken lollipops and make the sauce in advance. Then you can re-crisp the wings at a high temperature for a couple of minutes, re-heat the sauce, and toss to coat just before serving.
Here is a video on how to cut lollipops from the wings that I found on youtube.
Harissa Sauce
8-10 Whole chicken wings (or simply use meaty chicken drumettes)
1 tbsp Cumin powder
1 tbsp Criander powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/3 - 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
2/3 tsp Sea salt
Black pepper to taste
Herbs and greens to garnish
Pomegranate seeds to garnish
85 g Salted butter
100 g Harissa
1 tbsp Lemon juice
80 g Honey
Divide the chicken wing into 3 parts (drumette, winglet and wingtip) by slicing through the joints. Save the wingtip for other uses.
French the drumette. Holding the drumette (which looks like a chicken drumstick) by the meaty end, use a small, sharp knife to cut around the thin end of the drummette so the meat and skin are released from the bone. Push the meat down towards the fat end to create a lollipop.
French the winglet / flat. For the winglet, which contains two bones, cut the joint where the bones meet. Trim a small section of the meat from the circumference of that area to expose the bones. Remove one of the bones and push the meat to the end of the remaining bone to form a lollipop.
Transfer the prepared wings to a medium bowl. Add in ground cumin, coriander, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Rub the spice mixture into the wing pieces until there is no powder left in the bottom of your bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F and brush a baking tray with some olive oil. Arrange the chicken wings on the tray and bake in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes or until the chicken is nicely browned and slightly charred, and completely cooked through.
Bring sauce ingredients slowly to a simmer in a saucepan on the stovetop while your wings are baking. When the sauce starts to bubble, turn off the heat and set aside for 5 minutes. The sauce will thickens up after cooling a bit. Toss the wings in the sauce until thoroughly coated. Serve on a bed of fresh herbs and garnished with pomegranate seeds and chopped spring onions if desired.
Those air-fried chicken thighs come out golden and crispy on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside, and needs only a light coat of of olive oil to become crisp. Spicing up the almond Parmesan mixture with garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper gave the coating a wonderful array of flavours, aromas, and colours.
Chicken thighs get a crispy, crunchy coating with a well-spiced blanched almond powder with Parmesan in this simple and easy chicken recipe. Everything comes together deliciously in the air fryer for a family-friendly meal that's perfect for busy weeknights. Serve with a seasonal salad or use them to make chicken sandwiches.
Breading
3 Boneless chicken quarters, halved
3 Medium eggs
Olive oil
Salad, to serve
Ranch, to serve
100 g Ground blanched almonds
50 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne powder
1 tsp Smoked paprika powder
1/2-2/3 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Freshly milled black pepper
Half each chicken thigh, trimming off excess fat if desired. Pat the chicken thighs dry with paper towels. Set aside.
Whisk eggs in a bowl until combined. Stir together all breading ingredients in another bowl until well-mixed. Prepare a large tray lined with parchment paper for the breaded chicken thighs. Working with one chicken piece at a time, coat chicken first in breading bowl, then in egg wash bowl, then again in breading bowl. Place breaded chicken pieces on prepared tray.
Preheat your air fryer at 200C/400F. I usually switch it on about 3 minutes prior to cooking. Coat preheated fry basket with olive oil or cooking spray. Transfer the chicken to the air fryer basket, making sure chicken pieces are not touching. Coat chicken breasts with olive oil. Depending on the size of air-fryer basket, you can make 2-3 pieces at once. I have a small air fryer so I could only fit in 2 pieces at once.
Cook for 8-10 minutes. Open the air-fryer and flip chicken thighs over, and coat with olive oi. Air Fry for 6-8 more minutes. Remove chicken breasts to a plate, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken breasts.
