Coming from an Iberian county, olive oil is the centre of the kitchen – we use olive oil in everything. I absolutely love olive oil. I love it so much that on one occasion whilst back packing in India I had an enormous craving for olive oil drizzled on plain pasta. The pasta was easy to find but there was no olive oil anywhere is Jaipur. After a few days of searching, in desperation I went to a pharmacy and I was delighted to discover that Indian boys use olive oil in their hair! I can only tell you that this oil was super drizzled in pasta.
One of my best childhood memories is seeing bottles of olive oil at home with all sorts of things infusing in them. I have a special recollection of an enormous bottle that was full of chillies. Once a year it was our family tradition to top it up with new chillies and olive oil.
Many years later, I discovered that this bottle was in fact piri piri. My family is originally from Mozambique, where piri piri comes from so when we moved to Portugal in 1974, the piri piri culture kept going in the house!
Now after 10 years in Yorkshire the tradition is continuing – I have my own piri piri bottle (smaller than the one at my parents!) to which, once a year, the family adds new chillies and olive oil. I drizzle it over everything from BBQ to home made lasagne or have it on bread! Yummy!
I have made a few piri piri bottles for my friends and English family and give them away for presents. They are great for Christmas – my friends love it! So how is it done? Easy! I got some African red devil chilli seeds (malageta) from Portugal and planted them in my parent-in-law’s large greenhouse. I picked them when they were nice and red, gave them a wash, dried them off and got them straight in the oven at 60 degrees until they were totally dry (they have to be totally dry – we do not want any humidity on them because this can be dangerous.) When they were nice and dry, I stuffed them in a bottle and topped it up with extra virgin olive oil and sealed it with an air-tight stopper.
If you want to give the flavours chance to reach their full potential, you can leave the oil and chillies to infuse for a bit longer. However, note that the recommended time for consumption is up to 2 weeks and that the oil should be kept in the fridge. I would also suggest giving the bottle a good shake quite regularly. You will notice that the olive oil will turn into a lovely orange colour. I personally leave it for longer, but this is due to the legacy of my family tradition. I only do this for my own consumption so don’t try it!
If you do attempt to make your own piri piri bottles, remember to write the preparation date on the bottle labels so that you keep a check on the recommended time.
A word of warning, these chillies are very, very hot so when touching them don’t touch your eyes afterwards! Also, when you roast the chillies, you will feel your eyes stinging. It is a lovely smell but might be better to chill out in the garden with a glass of something!
I will be working on further ideas for some more tasty presents over the next couple of weeks – so will keep you updated!
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