Recently I have been going through my recipes and came across this one that I was given when I was in Jamaica for my daughter’s wedding.

Which I must say was beautiful,  a carrot cake wedding cake, steel drums, and a peaceful. beautiful beach.

In Caribbean cooking, they have what call is their sunshine kit which includes ginger, bonnet peppers, nutmeg, sweet thyme and bay leaves.

I think I love chilli but those scotch bonnet peppers are something else. They are some hot bad boys. However, I can’t always or very often I should say get scotch bonnet but Thai chillies especially those little birdseye ones can certainly pack a punch so what I am saying is use whatever chillies you normally cook with.

Let’s Cook!

12 chicken wings or drumsticks or a mixture just remember if you mix them cooking times will vary.

For the marinade, you will need.

• 4 spring onions chopped
• 2 tbsp thyme leaves
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli
• A knob of ginger finely chopped
• 100 ml cider vinegar
• 1 tsp cinnamon.
• 3 tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp allspice
• Salt and pepper.

Put all this in a pestle and mortar and pound away or blitz in a food processor.

Marinate the chicken for at least 3 hours or overnight turning a few times in marinade to ensure even coating.

Cook the chicken on your BBQ or in the oven ..wings take about 15 mins on high heat but test, as they vary, depending on the heat and size and if cooking drums they will take longer.

A nice accompaniment to this is sugared oranges. To sugar, the oranges take two seedless oranges if you can get blood oranges they are better tasting and slice and cut into rings, roll them in 2 tbsp of brown sugar and put on the grill or in a hot pan turning until they are caramelised or they will burn.

Smokin Hot Chilli Sauce:

This is a recipe for a blow your head off chilli sauce from my friend Susan who hails from Dubai and she thinks that even I will find it hot…The photo is also Susan’s and it looks lush. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you, Susan.

Let’s Cook!

Take a half kilo of Cayenne peppers or peppers of your choice.

A large handful of garlic cloves, peeled and blanched…it is not a requirement but the sauce will be less acrid if you blanch the garlic.

Smoke the chillies and garlic over charcoal mixed with smoked applewood for 2 hours.

Then put in a blender with a cup of organic live cider vinegar, a cup of sugar and half a tsp of salt.

Just look at that lovely rich, red colour, it looks amazing.

After you have made your first batch you might want to play around with the quantities to suit your taste …but that is the fun and what cooking is all about. The high sugar content makes it great for BBQ’s and helps with the preservation.

Put the sauce into sterilized jars. It is then ready to use as a spread on your bacon sarnie, to coat your meats and is a great base for chilli or my friend makes her version of Mole by adding cocoa powder, nuts, and some Mexican spices.

Play around with flavours you might find something new and exciting. Maybe blanch some red bell peppers and char them with the chillies and garlic.

Serve with a lovely fresh salad, that smokin chilli dip and a nice yoghurt dip for the potato wedges.

Enjoy!

I bet you thought I had forgotten about my love of chillies…Never!

I will still be publishing the odd recipe here and there I may be on a healthy eating crusade but chillies are healthy and a little of what you fancy does you good…If you eat healthy 80% of the time and semi the rest that is great…

Just in case you missed mine and Sally’s post on the benefits of eating Asparagus with recipes no less then here it is please Click Here

Until next time stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot because it is the best medicine and it’s FREE!