Own backyard

# ‘BRAAI’ Weekend Nr 5

No camping this weekend … we’ve actually enjoyed a quiet weekend at home. Welcome to the 5th post on our Braai series!

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).

The fire is ready to start our Weekend Braai

This weekend, it was time for some vegetables on the fire! And what better way to celebrate healthy veggies, than to put all the beautiful colours together and make vegetable kebabs (in Afrikaans it is called ‘groente sosaties’).

We’ve used pickle onions, green pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and baby marrows. Once the veggies were on the bamboo stick, we’ve drizzled olive oil over and added some mixed herbs and salt & pepper.

Remember to soak the bamboo sticks in cold water for a couple of minutes – this prevent the sticks from catching fire while on the hot coals
The vegetable kebabs are ready to go to the fire

As a pre-snack (yes, there’s always something to nibble on while sitting next to the fire), we’ve put chicken wings on the coals. We’ve bought the wings already placed on bamboo sticks and spiced … and it’s got the wonderful name of ‘Sundowner Chicken Wings’ 😉.

Sundowner Chicken Wings

Our vegetable kebabs got a lovely colour on the fire and Berto drizzled the olive oil/mixed herbs sauce over the kebabs while turning them over a couple of times.

The colourful vegetable kebabs on the fire

It was highly unlikely that we would get full with only the chicken wings and veggie kebabs on our plate, we therefor added more chicken to the braai … there’s always a next day to eat the left overs!

More spiced chicken pieces on the fire

In the end, the vegetables were great together with the chicken and it turned out to be quite a healthy meal!

Veggies & chicken – prepared on the open fire

Fortunately, there are more than just one day in the weekend 😄. We therefore had another opportunity for a braai evening … and you would be surprised to hear there were no meat involved!

A well-known fish South Africans love to put on the fire, is ‘snoek’ (very similar to barracuda). Snoek is a popular fish along the west coast of South Africa (where we live) and to invite friends to a ‘snoek braai’ is not uncommon.

Snoek fillets on the grid

There is probably only one sauce that compliments this fish the best – apricot jam, butter, lemon juice, paprika & thyme.

We melt this on the stove (or even on the fire if you have enough coals and space) and then use a brush to put the sauce on the fish while turning it over a couple of times.

Smoke escapes from the fire after adding the sauce onto the fish
Delicious snoek

As a side dish, we would normally add sweet potato to snoek – traditionally this is the way it’s served. But tonight, we’ve decided to have pumpkin with our fish (cooked and mashed with a little bit of butter and sugar).

Snoek and sweet pumpkin

We hope you’ve enjoyed our (healthy) braai weekend. While the Northern Hemisphere is awaiting summer, we here at the southern tip of the world, are experiencing lovely autumn days.

We’ve taken a walk along our lagoon this weekend and enjoyed the start of autumn.

Autumn days at the lagoon
And a beautiful sunset

We are travelling a bit this coming week – celebrating our 25th anniversary. So, be on the lookout for our next braai edition – it will be done in amazing places with spectacular views … until then 🔥.

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35 thoughts on “# ‘BRAAI’ Weekend Nr 5”

  2. Aaaaaa….. food again 😀 and it looks So So So good and delicious! How do you do it?!
    I’m going to steal your sauce recipe for my fish. ☺
    Happy anniversary! All the best to you!
    Have a wonderful coming week!

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    1. Angela, you will love that fish sauce – it’s a bit sweet and tangy, but really works well with this fish!
      We appreciate your wonderful wishes, thank you so much … and thanks for reading and your comments 😊. Enjoy your week as well.

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      1. Thanks!
        I’m sure it will be a perfect combination. Can’t wait when we will do our BBQ. We had snow last week and everything still dirty and dusty after winter, but soon…… 🙂

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  3. Congratulations on your upcoming silver wedding! More mouthwatering barbecued food. The fish looks interesting, do you fillet it first or does it not have many bones? I like the sound of the marinade with the apricot jam, too! Enjoy your next trip away. May I enquire which part of the coast you live in so I can locate it on a map? Best wishes, Marion

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    1. Thank you for your wishes – we truly feel blessed to be at each others’ side for 25 years 😊.
      The fishermen fillet the fish for us with the bones still intact – the nice thing about this fish is that it doesn’t have a lot of bones (I like that!) and the sweet and tangy sauce works brilliantly with this particular fish.
      We are really looking forward to our trip – new places to discover (and this time it’s not camping – we’ve “upgraded” a bit since it’s our anniversary 😉).
      We live about 100km from Cape Town up north on the west coast (in the Western Cape province) … such a beautiful part of our country. Take care, Corna

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  4. Veggies? Veggies on a braai? What kind of Afrikaaners are you? You’ll be telling us you are going vegan next!

    Joking aside, those veg kebabs look great and remind me so much of similar dishes I had in Cyprus and Greece years ago. Firm veggies work so well over fire.

    I am a great fish lover and adore the concept of the snoek braai, those fillets look so firm they would be ideal for naked flame as they would hold and the apricot sauce sounds delicious. Is the snoek an oily fish like mackerel? If so, might I suggest a gooseberry sauce if you can get gooseberries there. The tartness cuts through the oily fish beautifully. It is an old medieaval British recipe, noot so much seen now but beautiful.

    Another great post and congratulations in advance for your anniversary, I cannot wait to see the braai for that! You are lovely people and deserve each other so here’s to the next 25 (Fergy raises his glass in London!).

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    1. Ahh, but Fergy sometimes you need some veggies to keep the balance 😄. No, snoek is not really that oily (but it can be fatty) … don’t know if that might be the same thing. We do get gooseberries here, so maybe we can try that old British recipe that you suggested.
      Thank you for your beautiful wishes and raising your glass all the way from the UK – much appreciated!

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  5. All my favorite foods, but snoek is the best 😋😋 I love the photos of your walk. Enjoy your travels. We too are taking time out in the week to fetch my father in law from up country. Another little drive.

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    1. Yes, of all the fish, we like snoek the most! Was such a great stroll – just love these autumn days (seems the fiercely southerly wind eventually decided to give us a few months’ breathing space 😉).
      Enjoy your time out of the city as well … it’s great to just go on to the open road and smell and breath the fresh air of our “platteland”.

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  6. CONGRATULATIONS on such a big anniversary guys. We hit 10 this year and it feels like no time at all – where do the years go?! I’m 30-something now so should probably think about stability instead of adventure, but it’s just not in my bones. The thought horrifies me. Look forward to the next delicious braai installment 🙂

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    1. Thanks Hannah … wow, even 10 years are these days a milestone! And it feels like just the other day we’ve celebrated that one … time flies when you’re having fun, isn’t it?
      We love adventure – and somewhere in-between we try to work in the stability, but it’s more a 60-40 ratio I think (obviously in favour of adventure 😊).
      Thanks once again for reading our braai post … we hope to show something special next week after our anniversary trip 🔥.

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    1. Yes Maggie, I don’t think there’s really a difference between baby marrows and zucchini’s/courgettes … the marrow’s skin is (apparently) a little thicker, but in the end they actually the same 😉.
      And thanks for your wishes, we are certainly looking forward to our celebration trip!

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  13. I love these grill skewers! Not only are they incredibly tasty, but they’re also quick and easy to make. I like colored peppers, chicken breasts, onions or mushrooms. It’s nice that many types of fruit can also be grilled wonderfully, e.g. pineapple. This is the perfect dessert for the barbecue evening.
    Thank you for this wonderful post!
    Rosie from Germany..🌹

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    1. Absolutely Rosie – we love all that ingredients you’ve mentioned on a skewer (and as you’ve said, quick and easy!) Oh yes, pineapple on the coals are great (with a scoop of ice-cream ☺️) … thanks, you’ve just reminded me that we can use fruit as well!
      Thanks for reading and your valuable comments!

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    1. You’re such a wonderful creator of new words … I’ve just realised how many versions of the word ‘braai’ there can be! Hmm, I love our lagoon as well … that’s where I practice a lot of ‘mindfulness’ (the word you’ve reminded us about in one of your last posts 😉).
      Thanks for reading and your lovely comments Lisa 💌.

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