Braai Braai Braai - One of SA's Favourite past times

I think this week’s topic any one of us can go on and on about. Something we as South Africans do on almost a daily basis and that has been embedded in most of our memories from childhood till now: The Braai. When Thursday comes around all you hear about at work is what everyone’s weekend plans will be and 99.9% of the time it includes having a braai with friends or family. With evolution comes knowledge and luckily we have turned the humble camp fire into a state of the art cooking utility, it doesn’t stop with a “dop & chop” anymore. We have options and opinions about what we eat and how we cook it. I’ve personally never had much strength in this department have learnt to fine tune my ‘braai’ skills over the past year, here are some of my favourites.

Red Wine Steaks & Fillets

Everyone has their own marinade recipe that they will take to their graves, but I think it’s a sin to keep good food from people. This works on any cut of meat, depending on what your braaiing will depend on the marinating times.  The minimum marinating time for any meat would be around 2 hours and overnight is best but this all comes down to your time planning and choice of meat.

½ Bottle of Red Wine – best quality you can afford

3Tblsp of Soft Brown Sugar

3 x Cloves Garlic – chopped

1cm Fresh Root Ginger – finely grated, you don’t even have to peel it

3 x Good Splashes of Tabasco Sauce

1 x Green Pepper – diced

2Tblsp Balsamic Vinegar

3Tbsp of Tomato Sauce

15g Fresh Rosemary Leaves – chopped roughly

2Tbsp of Fresh Oregano & Marjoram Leaves – chopped roughly

Salt & Pepper to taste     

Method:

Mix everything together and whisk well to combine. Whisk till all the sugar has dissolved and pour this over your meat, leave to marinade and infuse as long as possible.

TIP’S on Marinating & Basting

·         Always add vinegar or lemon juice as this will help to tenderise the meat

·         Minimum of 2 hours to soak up all that goodness and to naturally tenderise the meat

·         If using a shop bought marinade, thin it down with water or wine. To thick and it will burn easily leaving you with meat charred on the outside and under cooked on the inside  

·         Always baste the meat while cooking as the meat loses a lot of its natural juices when being grilled

·         Use a make-shift basting brush by tying together a bunch of fresh rosemary branches with cooking twine/string. The rosemary works great as it releases its own oils and flavour while basting the meat

·         Think outside the box. Replacing your kebab sticks with lemon grass stalks or hardy rosemary branches (The lemon grass works great for fish kebabs and things like prawns and other seafood)

Awesome Sweet Potato Parcels

This will make you want more and more. I do get carried away and some say this is more of a dessert than a savoury braai accompaniment but it is just so good! Make one large per person or two small and keep it in individual parcels, this can easily start a fight around the dinner table. Fresh root ginger can replace the ginger cookies for a savoury feel.

4 x Large Sweet potatoes

8Tbsp of Brown Sugar – 2tbsp each

20ml Ground Cinnamon – 5ml each

1 x Packet of Ginger Biscuits – crumbed into bread sized crumbs (Use 2.5ml freshly grated ginger)

3 – 4 Marshmallows per Sweet Potato - optional

4Tbsp Honey – 1Tbsp each

4Tbsp Unsalted Butter

20ml Vanilla Essence – 5ml each

Enough Foil – to wrap and seal each parcel

Method:

Wash & scrub each sweet potato under cold running water, till clean and there is no more grit on them. Take a fork and pierce the sweet potato from top to bottom (this will ensure that the ingredients can infuse and it will shorten the cooking time). Place each sweet potato in the centre of a large double lined square of foil. Sprinkle on the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, a quarter of the ginger cookie crumbs, 1 Tbsp of butter and honey. If using marshmallows add them now. Bring the two opposite foil corners together and fold the ends together tightly, now bring the remaining corners together and make sure the parcel is sealed, wrap up the rest. Cook the sweet potatoes over the coals for 20 – 25 min till tender to the touch. Serve as is and if it is dessert, let it cool slightly before adding a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  

Feel free to visit my website for more of my recipes on www.sweetmafia-sa.com or contact me on thys@sweetmafia-sa.com