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A seafood braai

Garlic butter prawns to start, apricot-glazed fish with roosterkoek and cucumber sambal, then caramelised pineapple. A Cape coast braai for six.

For 6 people · 5 dishes

Starter · for 6

Fish

Garlic butter prawns on the braai

Shell-on prawns split down the back, basted with garlic, lemon and parsley butter and cooked fast over hot coals in a hinged grid.

Hot coals 31 min

Main

Fish

Apricot-glazed braai fish

Butterflied fish basted with apricot jam, butter, garlic and lemon, the way snoek is cooked on the Cape coast.

Medium coals 35 min

Bread

Bread

Roosterkoek

Soft bread rolls baked directly on the grid over gentle coals, split and eaten hot with butter.

Low coals 45 min

Side

Sides

Cucumber sambal (heritage recipe)

Shredded cucumber and spring onion with chilli, lemon juice, salt and a dash of soy. A cool, sharp Cape Malay side for curries, bredies and braaied fish.

No fire needed 15 min

Dessert

Dessert

Braaied pineapple with cinnamon sugar

Fresh pineapple wedges brushed with butter and cinnamon sugar, grilled over medium coals until caramelised. Serve with vanilla ice cream or Amarula cream.

Medium coals 30 min

On the Cape West Coast, butterflied fish basted with apricot jam is eaten with roosterkoek, bread rolls baked on the grid. Prawns come first, with a cool cucumber sambal (a sharp cucumber relish) on the side and grilled pineapple to finish. Build a two-zone fire: hot for the prawns, medium for the fish and pineapple, low for the bread. The prawns are scaled up to 6, and the recipe link below opens at that amount. The fish serves 4 to 6, and the sambal 4 to 6.

Earlier in the day

  • About 2 1/2 hours before you eat: Make the roosterkoek dough. It rises for about 1 hour, then the shaped rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes more.
  • Up to 2 hours before: Make the cucumber sambal. Any earlier and the cucumber goes limp.
  • Cut the pineapple into wedges and mix the cinnamon sugar. Keep them apart until the pineapple goes on the grid.

On the day

  • 2 hours before you eat: Light a wood fire. It takes 45 to 90 minutes to burn down to coals.
  • 1 hour before: Rake the coals into a two-zone fire. Put the grid on for 5 minutes and brush it clean. The roosterkoek go over the cool side for 15 to 20 minutes, turned every few minutes.
  • 40 minutes before: Melt the apricot glaze and the prawn garlic butter in small pots at the edge of the fire.
  • 35 minutes before: Prawns in a hinged grid over hot coals, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Hand them round as a starter.
  • 25 minutes before: Fish in an oiled hinged grid, skin side down over medium coals, for 10 to 12 minutes, brushed with glaze every few minutes. Turn it flesh side down for 3 to 4 minutes.
  • After the meal: Pineapple over medium coals for 10 to 15 minutes, turned two or three times. If the fire has faded, rake the coals closer together. See reading your coals.

Make it easier

  • Fish sticks to a dirty or dry grid. Pat the fish dry, oil it well, and do not open the grid until it is cooked. More in braaiing fish.
  • Fish and prawns are done at 63°C (145°F). Take the prawns off straight away, as they turn rubbery fast.