Welcome to our 2nd edition of our ‘braai’ weekends. If you missed the first post, you can read about it here.

Just a reminder: “What is a braai”?

The word ‘braai’ is an Afrikaans word, meaning barbecue. This means you grill or roast (mostly) meat over the open coals – something South Africans love to do (especially over weekends).

We had a few opportunities this weekend to have our favourite braai sessions. It was Easter weekend and a great time for us and some friends to go on a camping trip – yes again.

First we are going to show you our lovely campsite and then the delicious food we prepared on the fire during the weekend.

Our camp spot at Tietiesbaai

Once again, our choice fell on a wild camping experience on the West Coast of South Africa. Tietiesbaai, located in the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve is only 37km (23 miles) from our house and the ideal place for a long weekend.

We had to remember to pack a very important item for our camping trip – matches to start the fire. We always have these two matchboxes that go with us on every camping trip.

Matches to start the fire: A map of Africa on the one, as well as a well-known phrase in South Africa (translated from Afrikaans) “We will braai IMMEDIATELY”

Our view was once again spectacular – right on the edge of the ocean! We sat by the fire for long hours during the weekend and just enjoyed the beauty of nature.

Our breathtaking view
Our fire where we prepared food
Our campsite
We saw beautiful sunrises

Now, let’s get to the food! It was the last weekend we could catch crayfish (lobster) – the season for catching of crayfish is now closed until mid-December (a very long time if you like crayfish, but don’t want to pay the expensive price for it in restaurants).

The men ventured into the cold Atlantic Ocean and caught some crayfish to enjoy by the fire.

Big crayfish
Crayfish, lemon and Sauvignon Blanc – perfect combination

For snacks in between we had tasty boerewors. It is a type of sausage that originated in South Africa and is an important part of any South African braai. The name is derived from the Afrikaans/Dutch words ‘boer’ (farmer) and ‘wors’ (sausage).

Boerewors on the fire

Hamburgers were also on the menu. Some of our friends prefer their patties on hamburger rolls, while we like to place the patties on large mushrooms.

To enjoy tasty mushrooms, we rubbed olive oil on the outside of the mushrooms, added a little garlic and lemon butter to the inside with cheddar cheese on top. After this has melted on the fire, we add the patties on top of the mushrooms with a side salad consisting of green leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado and feta cheese.

Patties and large mushrooms getting ready on the fire

On our last night we decided to prepare a lamb ‘potjie’ on the fire. This is a delicious South African dish that is cooked on the fire in a cast iron pot (descended from the Dutch oven that was brought from the Netherlands to South Africa in the 17th century).

Here are some photos to show the different stages of a ‘potjie’:

Start your potjie with olive oil, onion and garlic
Add the meat (we used lamb neck and knuckle)
Carrots & potatoes are then placed on top of the meat
Oil & Spices: olive oil, black & white pepper, salt, crushed coriander seeds & whole cloves

Here’s a very important tip for a good ‘potjie’: Don’t be tempted to stir the ingredients too much while it’s cooking.

Ready to eat
Yummy

As we prepared our ‘potjie’, we enjoyed the last sunset of our camping weekend.

Lovely sunset to end our camping weekend

We hope you enjoyed our traditional South African food experience while camping.