the braai is a way of life for the south africans. the barbecue for them isn’t just a social function for friends to get together but is also an alternative method of preparing food. just like frying, baking and poaching. so, on thursday night we got the barbecue set out to simply make ourselves dinner. just like them.

this was also the opportunity for me to try out jamie oliver’s steak sarnie. bought the book 5 years ago and i cannot believe it took me this long to make it. as a kid, my late mom would treat us to steak sandwiches at the jaya supermarket restaurant on pay day. so, you can imagine that it’s been years since i last had one!

i bought some beef from the local yemeni butcher and bashed the meat silly with the lesung batu. seasoned the beef with freshly ground black pepper, a few sprigs of rosemary, squeezed half a lemon and added a dash of the extra virgin. left them in the bacofoil.

whilst the guys started the fire, i had the ciabatta sliced into two sides and spred some wholegrain mustard and added leaves (rocket was recommended). chucked the meat onto the fire and then you can watch the red meat juices flow. now, this is the problem. you want to retain the juices, really. i supposed seasoning the beef prior to cooking them was probably not a good idea! 5 minutes on each side would give it a lovely pink of the medium variety (so, more time for well done and less for bloody). squeezed a lil’ bit more of the lemon juice and makan.

since we don’t have a halal nando’s in town, the ayam was all nando-ised. just as yummy. with the addition of some corn-on-the-cob on the side, we were all well-fed men that night!

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the best time to shop or drive home from work: when england is playing. it’ has been 16 minutes now, so here’s to eng-gerr-laaand!!!