What’s a braai without a salad, and what’s a salad without avo, right?
Whichever way you plan to enjoy your Heritage Day braai, we have three must-have avo-laden salads to accompany your festivities … the quintessential braai salad, a biltong salad and a boerewors salad.
Naturally, avocados are the stars of all three of these braai sides, adding a good dose of copper, fibre and antioxidants to your meals. Copper is known to support immune system function while fibre is essential for good gut health and antioxidants are powerful food components that maintain and regulate immune function.
So whether you’re indulging in shisa nyama, grilled peri-peri chicken and masala chops, bangers and rashers, plant-based protein, or a full-on Mzansi braai with the works, upsize your heritage quota and add avocados to your Heritage Day table.
AVO AND BILTONG GREEK SALAD
Serves 6
You’ll need: 2 large ripe avocados; 400g cherry or cocktail tomatoes; 2 English cucumbers; 200g feta cheese; 150g olives; 15g fresh herbs, dill, parsley or chives (one or a combination of all three); 70g biltong, sliced
For the dressing – 150ml avocado oil or olive oil; 75ml lemon juice; 20g fresh herbs; sea salt and ground pepper
How to:
Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a jug or shake in a screw-top jar.
Cut and peel the avocados, remove pips and cut into quarters. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthways.
Cut the cucumber into chunky quarters. Cut the feta cheese into cubes, or crumble. Put the avocado, tomatoes, cucumber in a large bowl, add the olives and toss the ingredients together gently.
Scatter the feta cheese and biltong over the top and garnish with chopped fresh dill, mint and parsley.
The dressing may be served separately.
AVO AND BOEREWORS SALAD
Serves 4
You’ll need: 2 large ripe avocados; 650g boerewors; 2-3 large, sweet potatoes, preferably orange (can be substituted for butternut); 50ml avocado oil or olive oil; 1 tablespoon braai spice; 100ml sweet chilli sauce; fresh herbs or microgreens for garnish
How to:
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Scrub the sweet potatoes, cut them into wedges, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with braai spice. Roast on an oven tray for 30-40 minutes until cooked through and the edges are nicely charred.
Remove the casing from the boerewors and with wet hands roll the sausage meat into meatballs, the size of a ping-pong ball or walnut.
Fry the boerewors balls in a non-stick pan until golden brown and cooked through approximately 10 minutes.
To assemble the salad, arrange the sweet potatoes and boerewors on a platter, peel and quarter the avocados and place on the platter, drizzle with sweet chilli sauce and garnish with herbs or microgreens, serve warm.
THREE INGREDIENT AVO BRAAI SALAD
Serves 6
You’ll need: 4 whole ripe avocados; 1 English cucumber; 1 red onion, finely diced
For the dressing – ¼ cup soya sauce; 3 tablespoons honey; 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional); fresh chives to garnish
How to:
Peel and remove the pip from the avocado and cut into quarters. Halve the cucumber and cut it into 3-4 cm slices. Slice the cucumber.
Toss the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
To make the dressing whisk the soya sauce and honey together and pour over the salad, sprinkle with chilli flakes and chives, serve immediately.
Details: avocado.co.za or like @iloveavocadoSA on Facebook and follow @iloveavossa on Instagram.