Oven roasted peri-peri prawns
These oven-roasted peri-peri prawns were a quick dish I knocked together when I had my Big Green Egg all fired up. I had undertaken the mammoth task of defrosting my chest freezer, and discovered a box of fabulous Tiger prawns that needed to be consumed immediately. I simply thawed them in cold water and then doused them generously in peri-peri sauce.
Anyone that grew up in the Southern suburbs of Cape Town or who went to UCT, will be aware of the legendary takeaway ‘Chippies’ in Mowbray. It was always a little too dodgy looking for me, and far too much grease involved in the food, but Chippies was the place people went to when drunk in the early hours of the morning to get a bag of hot chips or a prego roll. It was also the only place open that late at night back in the day.
They have been selling their famous prego sauce from their shop for years, and I recently stumbled across it in Food Lovers Market, where it is now branded and bottled and easily available to keep on hand.
*An update (2022) Chippies has rebranded to Fabrica do Prego and they are the coolest prego joints in town. Their prego and peri-peri sauce s sold all over and it’s delicious.
The sauce is laced with garlic, you literally see mounds of slices in the sauce, and I erroneously picked up the ‘hot’ variant – which was a tad too spicy for my taste. I am more medium-mild.
Anyway, since I cooked the prawns with skin on, a lot of the sauce came off.
There are numerous other bottled peri-peri sauce brands that I enjoy, including Ruys (but I only seem to find this when I am in Joburg), Nando’s, Afrique, and I recently tried the Woolies peri-peri basting sauce which was rather delicious.
Simply heat your oven or Big Green Egg to 180C – 200 C. Marinate the prawns for anywhere from half an hour depending on their size. Put them in a roasting dish with all the marinade and cook for around 10 minutes, or until they have changed to pink. I turned them halfway through the cooking process, re-basting them at the same time.
I scattered over lots of salt and squeezed over a lot of fresh lemon juice.
Prawns like this are best eaten with your hands, served with chips or rice and an ice-cold beer on the side.
My very quick chicken breasts with peri peri and lemon are another standard week-night meal I cook often. Maximum flavour delivered in the quickest amount of time.
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I have never heard of a `Big Green Egg`?!! Is it the same as a Weber?
I must say that I never went to Chippies (actually I’m not sure if I have heard of it), any who I am intrigued, I must get some of their Prego sauce (mild of course, not a fan of hot either), I feel like I’ve missed out on something ;-).
p.s. those peppers look divine!
Thanks Kristy, a friend reckons the Chippies sauce with steak is divine too, so I’m keen to marinate steaks in that and slap that over the grill soon.
These prawns look amazing, I would love to make this recipe. Your photos are phenomenal!
Ahhh spicy shrimp…love at first click. This would be a great recipe for the summer.
I love them peppers!
I love the look of those prawns cooked like that but what really caught my eye was you bottling the peppers just the way I love them. I really must try them myself instead of buying them ready made. But they are so expensive here that I don’t know if there would be any cost difference. But I would get the saitisfaction.
Peppers (both fresh and jarred) are also very expensive in SA, but I guess cheaper to make ones own for sure.
HHHmmm, …. My food never looks this good! (hands on hips … stamping feet)…. The Man would love these prawns, and can do them outside, thanks will give them a bash.
Hi Flee 🙂
Hey there Sam.. Im still sulking, but looking out for a chilli sce while I do it LOL
Hi Yvonne,
Delighted that Sam introduced you to the Big Green Egg! It’s The Ultimate Cooking Experience and we invite you to visit our website http://www.biggreenegg.co.za. Sam, hope you’re enjoying your EGG still!
Hi Cindy, I am indeed very much so and working on a pizza recipe for my next BGE feature.
These look incredible, I love shell-on shrimp!
I know this is an old thread, but I find Ruys sauces at the Spar in Rosmead Ave (Cape Town) so I’m sure other Spars would have them too. Chippies now also makes a hot Peri-Peri sauce which I got from their take-away in Rondebosch. Only discovered your blog today (while googling for Ruys sauces nogal) but will be sure to visit often.
Hi Roger – thank you for this feedback this is great news I will most defs pop past Rosemead Spar. Still have not seen it anywhere in CT. Rosemead really is a treasure trove of a shop isn’t it?. I live in Sea POint so don’t get there much.
Sam
Yummy !