4 meals to make around an open fire

Keep warm this winter with our recipe roundup of authentic South African dishes that can be prepared on an open fire.

Pap and tomato relish

No South African should be able to say that they’ve never eaten pap before. Be it sweet porridge for breakfast, soft pap with veggies for dinner, or braai with pap as your side dish, the trick to making pap is to use hot coals and not prepare it directly on the open fire. Your coals should be hot, but cool enough for you to be able to hold your hand over them for 60 seconds. Try our pap and tomato relish – it’s even better when you ditch those utensils and eat with your hands.

Creamy samp

Nothing screams winter warmth like creamy samp – every cook worth their salt has to try it at home. You can use a three-legged potjie pot, which allows the samp to retain its natural flavour. Our oxtail stew and creamy samp recipe will give you all the details on preparing samp and its ideal sidekick, oxtail.

Tripe

It might take time to make, but let’s be honest — warming up in front of the fire while cooking your tripe is the perfect place to be. While preparing tripe over a hot plate can take up to three hours, you can reduce your cooking time by an hour over an open fire. You want your tripe as tender as possible, so allow it to simmer over those low flames while you keep warm in front of the fire.

Steamed bread

Not sure what to enjoy your tripe with? Steamed bread to the rescue – it’s a pairing that won’t disappoint. The smell of steamed bread will warm your heart, and tripe-stuffed steamed bread will do wonders for your taste buds. When cooking your steamed bread, make sure the flames are low by spreading your firewood around the pot. Also make sure that your pot is tightly closed so that no air gets in while it’s boiling.