This recipe is from Food Network’s Melissa D’Arabian. I found her Supermarket Healthy cookbook on Target’s 20% off shelf last year, and have opened it countless times since then. It was a great find!

When threaded on skewers, chicken thighs enable you to stretch a few dollars into dinner for four. A vinegary and spicy African-Portuguese piri-piri sauce is excellent as a marinade and a basting sauce. Enriched with tomato paste and agave syrup, this piri-piri takes on a familiar barbeque-y flavor. The technique works beautifully with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, too. For a less spicy piri-piri, replace the chiles with a small red bell pepper (or half the chiles with half a bell pepper).

Ingredients you’ll need

For the piri-piri sauce:

5 mild or spicy fresh red chiles (such as Fresno or red jalapenos), stemmcilantro leaves stemmed and quartered crosswise

3 garlic cloves, halved

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Juice of 2 limes, plus 1 lime sliced into wedges

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

 

For the grilled chicken kebabs:

1 1/4 lbs boneless, chicken thighs, halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon agave syrup (or honey)

Canola oil, for grilling

To make the piri-piri sauce:

Use a food processor to blend the chiles, garlic, cilantro, oregano, lime juice, vinegar, and salt until the piri-piri marinade is well combined and semi-smooth, about 1 minute. Pour the marinade to a small bowl, whisk in the tomato paste and agave syrup, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
To make the chicken kebabs:

Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Add the chicken to the remaining marinade and thread them onto 4 metal or wood skewers (if using wood skewers, soak them in water for 20 minutes before using so they don’t burn on the grill). Discard the marinade.