Hot Hot Prawns (Angolan Cosa Cosa Camarão)

Hot hot prawns are a traditional Angolan recipe which is super easy to make and perfect for any barbecue. You can use a pre-made peri-peri spice mixture with olive oil, however I would highly recommend you make the sauce from scratch. You just need to make it a few days ahead to get the proper flavour (peri-peri is a hot chile that was brought to Africa from the Portuguese, the sauce can be used on any kind or poultry, pork ribs and of course shrimp. )

1-2 lbs (about 36 large) prawns or shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp. sea salt
2 limes, juiced
6 Tbsp. Peri-Peri sauce
12 wooden skewers

Sauce:
4-8 fresh hot peri-peri chilies or Thai bird, red jalapeno, arbol
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
pinch kosher salt
½-1 cup olive oil, depending on how thick or thin you want the sauce

For the Sauce:
Coarsely chop the peppers and discard stems, taking care to use gloves when handling the very hot peppers.

Place the chilies, their seeds, the garlic, lemon juice and salt plus the desired amount of oil into a food processor. Purée the mixture and place into a glass jar and let flavours meld for several days.

The sauce should keep for up to 1 month in the refrigerator.

For the Prawns/Shrimp:
Toss the peeled and deveined prawns/shrimp into a bowl with the sea salt and set aside for 45 minutes.

Put the wooden skewers to soak in water. (So they will not burn on the grill).

When the prawns/shrimp are done marinating, toss them with the lime juice.
Put 3-4 prawns/shrimp on the skewer.

Brush the prawns/shrimp with the peri-peri sauce, reserving some for dipping.

Grill the prawns/shrimp on a medium high heat for just a couple of minutes per side until they turn pink. Do not overcook.

Serve immediately with the reserved peri-peri sauce for dipping.