Nali Sauce (Piri-piri Sauce)

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Nali Sauce (Piri-piri Sauce)

Nali Sauce (Piri-piri Sauce) is a traditional Malawian (from Malawi) recipe for a classic sauce of piri-piri chillies, garlic and thyme blitzed with lemon juice and olive oil. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Malawian version of: Piri-piri Sauce (Nali Sauce).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Additional Time:

(+7 days maturing)

Makes:

1 bottle

Rating:

Tags : Chilli Recipes Sauce Recipes Vegetarian Recipes Spice Recipes Herb Recipes Malawi Recipes

Though the native home of piri-piri sauce (or peri-peri sauce) is Mozambique (the Portuguese introduced it there as Molho de Piri-Piri) most who have tasted it agree that Malawian Nali Sauce is almost certainly the best commercial version of the sauce.

I have bought many bottles and it truly is delicious. Having been given a recipe and tried a few variants myself, I think I have a home-made version that now comes close to the commercial form and which is one of the best piri-piri sauces that you can make at home.

Ingredients:

60ml light olive oil
40ml groundnut oil
5 tbsp fresh piri-piri chillies, minced
1 ripe, aromatic, fresh Scotch Bonnet chilli
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp salt
pinch of dried oregano
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
juice of 1 medium lemon
juice of 1 lime

Method:

Combine the chillies, garlic, paprika, salt, oregano, thyme, lime juice and lemon juice in a blender. Process to a coarse paste.

With the blender still running, gradually add mix of olive oil and groundnut oil in a slow steady stream until you have the consistency of a thick pouring custard.

Transfer to a thoroughly cleaned jar. Secure tightly with a lid and store in the refrigerator. It will mature with age and I typically leave it for a week before opening the jar and using.

It typically keeps for up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. Note that the capsaicin (the 'heat') component of the oil is a strange molecule that has one end that lives in water and another end that lives in oil. As the sauce ages, the oil will pull more of the chemical out of the chillies, so the sauce will become noticeably hotter with age.