Braai (BBQ) time!

Heritage day in South Africa is one of the more lighthearted of our public holidays. It's a day when we celebrate our diversities and how they come together to create a truly unique flavour in South Africa. This past weekend I decided, after a difficult fast that I was braaing (b-rye-ing) and I didn't care that it was raining, I went ahead and prep'd my food and by the time I was ready, the sun came out for just long enough to light up my world as I turned the food on the fire.

Cooksister is hosting an event over on her blog for braai recipes and since the recipe on her anouncement post was sosaties (skewered meat) I have not been able to get the idea out of my head. I decided to do them anyway and just add my own flair. I love lamb, especially when you add the middle eastern spices, I am hooked. I also love rubbery hot cheese and exploring new flavours and so I was left with no other options but to indulge a whole bunch of my loves and pop them all on one plate...but 2 skewers.

Add to that some Israeli favourites, some new ideas and a hungry family, I had a winning combination.

Lamb and Moroccan sausage skewers

What you need:

cubed lamb

red,green,yellow peppers

spicy Moroccan sausages (we made ours but any spicy sausage will do)

paprika

cumin

tumeric

crushed dried garlic

What to do:

Marinate the lamb in the spices. Pop everything onto the skewers how ever you wish. Pop on a hot fire and turn every now and again

Braai cheese and veg skewers

What you need:

red,green,yellow peppers

mushrooms

baby marrow

Lancewood braai cheese

NoMU vegetable Fonds (or any other vegetable stock)

What to do:

Cut the mushrooms in half, cut the baby marrow into pieces about 4cm long. Soak in hot vegetable stock (this makes the veg soft enough that they don't split when skewered). Skewer the veg and cheese as you wish. Braai and serve

These are just the ones I did but the beauty of these is that you can do them according to your taste :) We served ours with some pitas, nafis, freshly baked corn bread (the husband calls it cake bread) and mashawsha