One of the South African recipes in this month's Kitchen Trotter box was for Peri Peri Chicken with Pap. Now pap didn't sound at all appealing to me - "it tastes like pap" means it tastes like wallpaper paste but I don't know if that's where the saying comes from or not ! (I had a quick look online and come across this definition : 1. any soft or semiliquid food, such as bread softened with milk, esp for babies or invalids; mash 2. (Cookery) South African porridge made from maize 3. worthless or oversimplified ideas; drivel: intellectual pap.
Well, time will tell ! Here's the recipe :
Peri Peri Chicken & Pap
ingredients (for 6 people) :
1 whole chicken or 6 chicken thighs
1 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tbsp Nando's Peri-Peri sauce
butter
10cl white wine
for the Pap :
250g Iwisa white maize flour
50cl water
1/2 tsp salt
knob of butter
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat the coriander seeds in a dry frying pan until you can start to smell them, remove from the heat and crush with the back of a spoon.
Put the chicken in a roasting tin, dot with butter and sprinkle over the crushed coriander seeds. Stick it in the oven for 45 minutes (chicken thighs) or 70 minutes (whole chicken).
Meanwhile, cook the pap. Put the water and salt in a pan and bring to the boil. Add the maize flour, little by little, while whisking vigorously so that it doesn't form lumps. Reduce the heat, cover and leave to cook for 35 minutes. (The longer you cook it, the thicker it will get. Add a little water if it's too thick.) Stir in a knob of butter before serving.
Remove the chicken from the oven and drain off all the lovely juices into a saucepan. Add the wine and peri peri sauce (to taste) and heat, stirring, until it reaches the boil.
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Well, it wasn't awful but I was a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting really spicy chicken with a marinade or spice rub so just cooking regular, plain chicken and adding a bit of peri peri sauce to the gravy was a bit bland. It meant that the kids liked it though and they're not keen on spicy food so it was probably better for them.
I really wasn't a fan of the pap. I was dubious right from the start - maize and water? How nice could it really be ?!
It instantly created a slightly strange, fluffy, dryish mixture.
The final consistency reminded me of seriously overcooked couscous that has all gone sticky and clumpy. It was just about edible but not something I'd go out of my way to recreate ! I added spices (BBQ seasoning, garlic pepper, onion salt) to inject a bit of flavour into it.
I can tell I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about this one because I totally forgot to take a picture of the final dish ! I have to say, I much preferred the bobotie.
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