Breakfast On The Braai

Some of the things that I want to do more of this year, is to read more books and to spend more time with family and friends. Although saying them together reminds me that they’re kind of mutually exclusive aren’t they? Probably not going to try and do them at the same time.

Anyway.

When we found ourselves at home this past Easter weekend, we made full use out of it by having as many friend meet ups as we could.  We visited some of them for braais, some visited us for pizza and with Monday being the last day of freedom that we had, we thought we’d do a brunch braai with another group of friends we hadn’t seen yet.

Have you ever had a brunch braai?  In all my 29 years of life I don’t think I have ever tried it. But if there’s one thing I love, it’s breakfast, so we had to give it a bash. Plus, doing it on the braai means that I just do the prep and Seth does the cooking – win win! Our Weber® Q3200 Gas Grill braai has the option of converting half of it into a griddle which was pretty much perfect for breakfast. We used it to grill our flap jacks, hash browns and eggs to perfection. But more about that later.

As usual, I was running late.  I don’t know why that always happens to me. I thought I had everything stocked in the pantry so I could start preparing before our guests arrived, but obviously I overlooked some key ingredients, like milk. Ugh.  But after running off to the shops and then whipping up our flap jack batter it was just a matter of turning on the gas to get the Weber going.  And with the kids not having eaten yet, we all breathed a sigh of relief when the flap jacks started rolling out.

As a rule, I don’t usually make two separate meals for the kids and the adults, but this time it just felt right. The real beauty of bacon and eggs is lost on our kids (can you tell I make them eat it with me on the regular?) and those watching the scales aren’t too keen to get stuffed on flap jacks either.

But let’s be honest with the real reason here, I get to be all creative and make them into funny faces which is always a huge hit! (For me and the kids!)

Here’s how to make them:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Well beaten Eggs
• 4.5 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1.5 Cups Milk
• 15 Tablespoons Flour
• Nob of Butter (melted)
• 3 Heaped Teaspoon Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt

DECORATIONS:

• 2 bananas
• raisins
• 1 apple
• punnet of raspberries
• imagination

METHOD: Beat egg and sugar well, add milk, then melted butter, salt, sifted flour and lastly the baking powder.  I’ve found (after quite a few under-done, then a few more burnt ones) that frying them on a medium heat works best.  Once they have cooled decorate them with your toppings in your kids favourite things, drizzle with some honey and enjoy.

VARIATION: Instead of decorating your flap jacks afterwards with fruit, try using food colouring to turn them into rainbow pancakes like we’ve done here.

Any breakfast that I order in a restaurant will have a side of some form of potatoes.  It could just be my inherent love for potatoes that makes it feel like the meal is complete with them sitting next to my runny egg, but it is what it is. However, making the regular chips that come with a restaurant meal is just boring.  So I tried my hand at making some hash browns instead – a more interesting twist on the old potato.

We grilled the bacon on the regular braai side of the Weber and then started the hash browns on the griddle, once they were firm and together, we moved them over to the braai side and let them soak in a bit of the bacon flavour.  They were pretty freaking delicious if I do say so myself.

So for the adults we made a breakfast stack.  A couple of hash browns, egg and crispy bacon.  It went down a treat!

Even though I may have threatened everyone to tell me it was delicious (even, no especially if it wasn’t), they all seemed to agree that they would have said it without the threats.

Here’s how we did it:

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 small potatoes
• 1 onion (finely diced)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 spring onion (sliced)
• 1 handful French chives (finely chopped)
• pinch of salt
• pepper to taste
• butter or oil for frying

METHOD: Grate your potatoes into a sieve, then rinse them until the water runs clear. Drain them well, making sure you have removed all of the water. Throw them into the bowl and all the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Take a nob of butter and place it on the griddle, let it melt. Form your hash browns into a ball, place them on the oiled griddle and then squash with your lifter. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

Grill your bacon, fry some eggs and add them to your hash brown stack.  Garnish with diced chives.  Enjoy!

VARIATION: Dice up some peppers or add a sprinkle of feta.

 

And that’s that. Do you have a favourite brunch braai recipe?