Fiery starter

CHICKEN POPPERS

You know chilli poppers – those chillies filled with cheese and covered in pastry. Here we wrap a strip of chicken breast and bacon around the stuffed chilli and braai it over the coals. It’s healthier and tastier. Ingredients (enough for 10) 10 chicken fillets 10 fresh jalapeño chillies ½ cup cream cheese 1 cup grated cheddar cheese 20 strips streaky bacon 1 cup sweet and smoky braai sauce (we used Woolies’)

Here’s how

1 Put the chicken fillets between two layers of cling film and flatten it with a meat mallet or the edge of a side plate. 2 Halve the chillies lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Mix together the cream cheese and the cheddar and fill the halved chillies with the mixture. Put the halves together. (If the chicken strips are too small you can use the chilli halves just like that.) 3 Wrap a piece of chicken around each filled chilli and then wrap two bacon strips around the chicken to hold everything together. Use toothpicks if necessary. 4 Braai the poppers for 20 minutes over medium coals until cooked through – turning every 5 minutes. Paint the poppers with the braai sauce during the last 5 minutes and allow to caramelise. Just keep an eye on things because the sauce tends to char quickly. go! Drive & Camp says You can make your own chicken fillets by deboning and butterflying five breasts. Then halve it lengthwise. >