Nando’s Chicken Copycat – and exciting news!!
A few months ago, I got an email that I never dreamed of receiving. {Abbreviated} “Hi Nagi. I’m Rebecca, the editor of Super Food Ideas, Australia’s top selling food magazine….I love the way you write – friendly, understanding and self-deprecating; and also your recipes are fab. It got me thinking, is there some way that we could work together? I think your recipes would be perfect for my readers…..If you’d be interested in looking at possibilities, email me back or just give me a call on…” I actually gasped out loud, jumped out of my chair, did a little jiggy and picked up the phone straight away. Then I put it down, took a few deep breaths to calm myself. “Be cool, be cool,” I said to myself. “Be professional, don’t come across like a dribbling fool.” Well, so much for the pep talk. I made the call, tripped over my words with excitement, was convinced the editor would never take me seriously, thinking I was just a blubbering, over excited foodie…. And yet, it happened. My dream, something I never even thought of as a possibility until years down the track, has come true. My recipes are being featured in Australia’s top selling magazine, Super Food Ideas! And not just plonked in some dark corner. There’s a WHOLE SPREAD of MY recipes with MY photos, MY words, MY ideas!! EEK!!! When I received the mock up of the layout of the pages in Super Food Ideas for my recipes, with full page photos, I almost cried. It looked so professional it was overwhelming, so humbling, beyond what I can describe. Look! Here it is – here’s my feature in Super Food Ideas!!
Someone once asked me why I don’t do more commercial shoots for clients. “Commercial shoots” being packaged food or food other people prepare that I then shoot for ads and catalogues. And my response was this: “I want to photograph food I love. Because my passion lies in creating food that I think is so delicious, I want to share it. With my family and friends, and on my blog! And photographing the food I love, striving to capture what I love about it so much, that’s what gets my juices flowing!” Which is why contributing my own recipes to Super Food Ideas magazine is an opportunity that has me so excited. It really is my dream come true, sharing my own recipes and my own photos in a magazine!
Nando’s copycat Portuguese Chicken Burgers
Back to my Nando’s copycat Portuguese Chicken Burgers! I don’t think Nando’s is huge in America yet, but let me tell you, it has a cult following in Australia. I really mean it when I say this is probably my most requested recipe. If you’ve never tried Nando’s before, you are in for a treat if you try this. The marinade is incredible! And it forms the base for a simple sauce for the burgers AND as a fabulous dipping sauce for wedges on the side!
Nando’s Peri Peri Sauce
The homemade Nando’s Peri Peri sauce is a copycat that tastes remarkably similar! It’s made with fresh red chillies, capsicum/bell pepper (this is the “secret” ingredient), garlic, vinegar, oil plus herbs and spices (paprika, oregano, onion, sugar, salt, pepper) It’s literally a plonk-and blitz job, then just pour over the chicken. What I really love about the Peri Peri Sauce marinade is that you can make it as burgers or not. The marinade is so full of flavour, you could easily serve it up for dinner without the buns. 🙂 Check out the caramelisation, isn’t it fab? Ooooh, the flavour infusion from the marinade…it’s incredible! It also works as extra sauce for the burgers – OR stir it into mayonnaise to make a Pink Burger Sauce and for dipping wedges or chips (pictured above).
I asked Super Food Ideas to let me share it with you because I really wanted this on my blog. It’s one of five recipes I’ve created especially for Super Food Ideas. The other 4 are exclusive to the magazine – but never fear it’s only $3.20 (can you believe that?!) and you can get it at all the major supermarkets and newsagents in Australia. Here’s a sneak preview of the other recipes I created for Super Food Ideas. All of them are “Double Duty” recipes where one base sauce is used as a marinade and to make a tasty side.
- Garlic Lime Marinated Prawns (Shrimp) with Green Rice – one lime and garlic mixture used to marinate the prawns and as the flavour base for a green spinach rice;
- Cuban Mojo Marinated Pork Cutlets with Corn and Capsicum Salsa – classic Cuban Mojo marinade is used to both infuse the pork with flavour and as a dressing to toss through the chargrilled salsa;
- Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and Marinated Chicken – my favourite Chinese vegetable dish uses a sauce which is also brilliant for marinating chicken; and
- Middle Eastern lamb Koftas with Aromatic Lentil Rice – the same base spice mixture is used to flavour the kofta and to season the rice.
I hate to blow my own horn, but the green spinach coriander garlic lime rice that is made from the marinade for the prawns/shrimp is really good. REALLY good! This Portuguese Chicken Burger is one of my “go to” recipes for when I’m entertaining large groups. I throw huge quantities of chicken and marinade into ziplock bags then make the blokes do the BBQ’ing (the girls sip wine and do important stuff like discuss the best value hairdressers in town). I lay out baskets of rolls and platters of lettuce and tomato with the Pink Sauce and Peri Peri Sauce on the side and I make everyone DIY their own burgers. NO PLATES. Te he! Napkins only! Don’t make me wash up! -Nagi x
More Burgers, Sliders and Sandwiches
Big, juicy Hamburgers Steak Sandwich – super quick Chicken Burger – juicy seasoned chicken breast steak with the lot! BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders Cubanos – The famous Cuban roast pork sandwich from The Chef movie Pastrami Sandwiches – Rye bread piled high with homemade pastrami. EPIC! Veggie Burger – Meatless made amazing. Puts those doughy bricks at the shops to shame! Sloppy Joes! Browse all Burgers and Sandwiches & Sliders recipes
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