While there is nothing wrong with boerewors, chops and the usual sides of salads, garlic bread, pap or potato bake, cooking over coals can be a creative culinary celebration.

Turn up the heat on September 24 and make your National Braai Day/Heritage Day one to remember. We asked top chefs to share their best braai recipes with us.

Sakhumzi’s braaied angelfish with beetroot and butternut salad

A Soweto icon, Sakhumzi restaurant opened in 2001 on famous Vilakazi Street, which was once home to two Nobel Laureates – the late Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Their Braai Day offering was prepared by Chef Lebogang Khumalo.

Ingredients:
For fish

Whole angelfish, with skin on (cleaned)
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

For sauce

A good dash each of olive oil, lemon juice and vinegar
Garlic
Dill
Thyme
Paprika

For salad

Butternut (cubed, rubbed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and braaied in a foil parcel until soft)
Cooked beetroot, tossed with a good chutney
Cubed feta cheese

For vinaigrette

Dijon mustard
A dash each of honey, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Salt
Black pepper

Method:
For fish

Season with salt, pepper and paprika and grill over medium-hot coals until cooked in the centre (the fish should flake easily). Tip: If braaiing directly on the grid, brush the fish with olive oil. Otherwise, place between two layers of tinfoil on a foldable grill.

For sauce

Fry all the ingredients together in a saucepan (on the coals or the cooker) for 5–7m, on low heat, then pour over cooked and plated fish.

For salad

Arrange the butternut, beetroot and feta in a serving bowl. Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together, drizzle over the salad and gently toss.

Beyond’s 24-hour slow braised short rib

Constantia’s Beyond restaurant, sister restaurant to Peter Tempelhoff’s celebrated Fyn, which is one of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, has as its head chef Julia du Toit. She shared a fantastic short rib recipe.

Ingredients

2kg piece short rib, bone-in
2 carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1L beef stock
500ml red wine

Method  

Sear the short rib in a frying pan.
Deglaze pan with red wine.
Colour veggies in a separate pan and once slightly charred, place them in a large casserole dish.
Place short rib on the veggies, pour red wine over the short rib, followed by the beef stock.
Braise in a 74°C oven for 24 hours (low and slow).
Once the bone can easily be removed, the short rib is ready.
Remove bone and portion.
Finish off on the braai. 

Serve with:

A salad made from cabbage slaw, sliced radish, spring onion, truffle mayo, ponzu, toasted sesame seeds, dill pickled cucumbers and celery. 

MaZwane’s ultimate chakalaka

Imbizo Shisanyama, known as Busy Corner, was started on a dusty street corner in Ivory Park, Gauteng, in 1997 and has grown to include three restaurants in the Johannesburg area.

Promising diners ‘Africa’s ultimate braai experience’, Imbizo Shisanyama has stayed true to its cultural heritage. One of its much-loved dishes is its original recipe chakalaka, a colourful, healthy and spicy blend of beans and vegetables that can be served with almost any dish, but is especially delicious with shisanyama, otherwise known as braai meat, and pap.

Serves 4–6
Ingredients

150ml sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 green peppers, diced
4 grated carrots
2 green chilli peppers, chopped
1 can of baked beans
4tsp hot curry powder
1tsp hot peri-peri sauce

Method

Simmer your chopped onion, green peppers and green chillies in the oil.
Add half of the spice mixture and continue to simmer until golden brown.
Add in the grated carrots and keep turning the ingredients until the carrots are soft.
Add the rest of the spices and keep stirring.
Cook for another 45m.
Add the baked beans and hot peri-peri sauce. Mix thoroughly and allow the ingredients to simmer gently for a final 15 minutes.
Serve cold or hot with ipapa or enjoy alongside any good traditional South African meal.

Marcus’s braai (load-shedding) cooler box berry cake 

Celeb chef Marcus Modimokwane (@ChefMarcusZA) is a graduate of Capsicum Culinary Studio, one of Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans 2021 and a GQ SA Top 5 chef for 2021.

Ingredients
Serves 6–8

400g cream cheese, softened
2tsp vanilla extract
500g mixed berry yoghurt
1 packet coconut tea biscuits
2 cups fresh strawberries, rinsed and sliced
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed 

Method

Beat the cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
Add the yoghurt and vanilla extract. Continue beating until combined.
Spoon the yoghurt mixture over the bottom of a casserole dish and spread to cover all corners.
Place a single layer of biscuits on top of the mixture.
Place a layer of sliced strawberries and spread another layer of the yoghurt mixture.
Repeat the process until the casserole dish is nearly full.
Top the cake with the remaining yoghurt mixture, sliced strawberries and whole blueberries.
Place in your cooler box with ice, or in the fridge to chill.
Remove from the cooler 15–20 minutes before serving.
If desired, garnish with more berries and edible flowers. 

Chef Pellie’s braai toffee pudding

Chef Pellie Grobler is the former head chef of The Menlyn Boutique Hotel’s signature restaurant, The Black Bamboo, and the current head chef of Pretoria’s Tin Roof Café.

Ingredients
For toffee sauce

2½ cups cream
100g unsalted butter
½ cup maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar

Sponge 

150g pitted dates (about 8 dates, preferably Medjool)
¾ cup water
¾ cup plus 2 tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

In a small saucepan, simmer the dates in the water over moderately low heat until the water is nearly absorbed, and the dates are soft, about 15 minutes. Transfer the dates and any liquid to a food processor and puree until very smooth.

In a small saucepan on your braai grid, make the sauce by combining 1 1/4 cups of the cream with the butter, maple syrup and sugar; bring to a boil directly over the coals. Move to the side of the grill, stirring frequently, until a deep amber caramel forms, about 30m. Carefully whisk in the remaining 1 1/4 cups of cream. 

Lightly butter a cast iron pan with a lid. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the brown sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla, then beat in the date puree. With a spoon, fold in the dry ingredients until well mixed. Spoon the batter into the cast iron pan, and cover with the lid. Place on a medium fire, 10cm* above the direct coals. Add a few coals to the lid.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean; let cool slightly.

*TIP: A braai tripod works perfectly.

Using a fork, poke some holes in the top of the sponge. Pour some of the toffee sauce over the sponge. It will bubble around the edges. Make sure you leave some for dishing up. Put back the lid and remove it from the fire. 

Step 5

Let the pudding cool for 10m in the pot with the lid on. Dish up a spoonful of the pudding and spoon some toffee sauce around the portion. Serve with vanilla ice cream and toasted almonds.