In his recent book Simply West African, celebrity chef Pierre Thiam explains how Senegalese cooking is offered in the spirit of teraanga, in which gifts are given without the expectation of receiving them in return. Interweaving lessons in culture and cooking, his book provides recipes for some of the areas most popular dishes, such as piri piri chicken. The classic piri-piri chicken is itself an amalgamation of influences, with roots tracing back to Angola and Mozambique, where the original dish was made with fresh prawns grilled on a wood-burning flame. Now the dish is typically made with spatchcocked (butterflied) chicken, which is grilled or roasted to a perfect crispness.
A West African Ode to a Spicy and Tangy Chicken Dish
