Walk into a Woolworths in Australia hunting for the sides you grew up with and you get two surprises at once. The first is that this is not that Woolworths. The Australian supermarket and the South African one are unrelated companies that happen to share a name, and the Cape Town business has been going its own way since 1931. It does own shops in Australia. They sell jumpers, not braai side dishes.
The second surprise is the good one. Almost everything you are picturing is still entirely possible here. It just comes out of different tins. Here are eight of them, best first.
Table of Contents
- 1. Chakalaka, which survives the move completely intact
- 2. Pap, and the polenta trap
- 3. Mielies, and why an Australian cob tastes different
- 4. Curry noodle salad, which nobody here expects
- 5. Three bean salad from an Australian four bean tin
- 6. Braaibroodjies, the side that thinks it is a main
- 7. Potato salad, dressed warm and made the day before
- 8. Pumpkin fritters, if you want the table to go quiet
- Which braai side dishes to make first
1. Chakalaka, which survives the move completely intact
Chakalaka is a spicy cooked vegetable relish, served warm or at room temperature next to the meat. It is the strongest argument that you have lost nothing by moving, because every single ingredient sits in an ordinary Australian supermarket aisle.
You need an onion, a red and a green capsicum (what you would call peppers at home), a carrot, garlic, fresh ginger, curry powder, a little chilli and a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce. That last one is the part people argue about and the part you should not skip. Nearly every traditional recipe uses it, and it is what gives chakalaka its slightly sweet, saucy body.
Two things make the difference. Grate the carrot instead of dicing it, so it disappears into the sauce rather than sitting in it. And fry the curry powder in the oil with the onion and capsicum for a full minute before anything wet goes in, which is the step most rushed versions skip. Stir the beans through at the very end so they keep their shape. Make it in the morning. It is better by the afternoon.
2. Pap, and the polenta trap
Pap is stiff maize porridge, the starch that sits under the meat and mops up whatever the meat leaves behind. Australian supermarkets do sell a maize product, and it is not the right one.
Polenta is ground yellow corn. South African pap is made from white maize meal. Cook polenta and you will get something creamy, slightly sweeter and distinctly yellow. It is a decent stand-in for pap en sous, the soft pap served with tomato and onion sauce, and nobody at the table will starve. It will not give you krummelpap, the dry crumbly version, because the grain is wrong.
For the real thing you want white super maize meal, which is a South African shop item rather than a supermarket one. Our state-by-state directory of South African shops in Australia lists the places that carry it, and it keeps for months, so buy two bags when you go. The wider question of what swaps honestly and what does not is covered in the ingredient substitutes guide.
3. Mielies, and why an Australian cob tastes different
Mielies are corn cobs cooked over the coals, and yours will taste sweeter here. That is not your imagination. The NSW government’s sweet corn growing guide explains that the supersweet cultivars dominating the Australian fresh market can carry up to twice the sugar of a standard corn at peak maturity. A South African braai mielie is usually a starchier, chewier animal.
Work with it rather than against it. Leave the husk on, soak the cobs in cold water for twenty minutes, then put them straight onto medium coals and turn them every few minutes for fifteen to twenty. The wet husk steams the kernels and chars on the outside, and it comes away in one piece when you peel it back. Butter and salt at the table, never before.
The same guide notes that planting starts in spring once the soil warms up, which is why cobs get cheap and good over summer. Out of season, frozen cobs behave surprisingly well with the same treatment minus the soak.
4. Curry noodle salad, which nobody here expects
Kerrienoedelslaai, curry noodle salad, is the one dish on this list that needs no substitution at all. Two-minute noodles, curry powder, mayonnaise, white vinegar, sugar, finely sliced onion and usually some grated carrot and peas. That is the whole shopping list, and it costs almost nothing.
The trick is timing. Cook the noodles a minute short of the packet instruction, rinse them under cold water to stop them going soft, then dress them while they are still slightly warm so they take the flavour on properly. Chill it for a couple of hours before serving.
It is one of those dishes that Australians eye suspiciously and then eat two helpings of. Make more than you think.
5. Three bean salad from an Australian four bean tin
The tinned mix here is usually sold as four bean mix rather than three, generally red kidney, butter beans, chickpeas and borlotti. Nobody has ever complained about the extra bean.
Rinse the tin thoroughly, which matters more than people think, because the packing liquid will make the dressing cloudy and dull. Dress it with white vinegar, a neutral oil, a good spoonful of sugar, salt and pepper, and a red onion sliced as thinly as you can manage. Let it sit for an hour minimum.
The sugar is not optional and it is not a modern shortcut. It is the thing that makes the salad taste like the one on the table at home rather than a healthy bean salad from a café.
6. Braaibroodjies, the side that thinks it is a main
Most braai side dishes sit quietly next to the meat. This one competes with it. A braaibroodjie is a grilled sandwich of cheese, tomato, onion and chutney, cooked in a hinged grid over the fire. We have given it a full post of its own with Australian ingredients, because it deserves one.
The short version for this list: butter the outside of the bread, not the inside, and cook them after the meat comes off, over coals that are dying rather than roaring. Braaibroodjies burn on the outside and stay cold in the middle faster than anything else on the fire. The chutney is the one ingredient worth planning ahead for, and if you cannot find the real thing, the chutney substitutes we tested will get you close.
7. Potato salad, dressed warm and made the day before
Buy waxy potatoes, not floury ones. In Australia that means asking for Nicola, Dutch cream or kipfler rather than grabbing whatever is stacked highest and labelled for roasting. Floury potatoes collapse into paste the moment you stir mayonnaise through them.
Boil them whole in their skins, peel while hot if you want them properly smooth, cut them into chunks and dress them while they are still warm. Warm potato drinks the dressing; cold potato just wears it. Whole egg mayonnaise, a splash of vinegar, spring onion, salt, plenty of pepper.
Then leave it alone overnight in the fridge. Potato salad made an hour before the braai is a different and worse dish.
8. Pumpkin fritters, if you want the table to go quiet
Pampoenkoekies are pumpkin fritters, and butternut is everywhere in Australia, so this one is easy. Cook and mash the pumpkin, drain it properly, then beat in an egg, a few spoons of plain flour, a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Fry small spoonfuls in butter until they are dark gold on both sides. Cinnamon sugar over the top while they are hot.
Drain them on paper for a minute before they hit the plate, or the bottoms go soggy and the whole thing turns sad.
They are a side dish, not a pudding, whatever your Australian guests decide halfway through the meal.
Which braai side dishes to make first
If you only do two, do the chakalaka and the curry noodle salad, both the day before, because both improve overnight and both leave you free on the day. Add the mielies, since they cook on the same coals as the meat and cost you nothing extra in effort.
The rest of these braai side dishes are a bonus. And if you would rather cook one thing instead of eight, our five ingredient potjie does the whole job in a single pot while you stand around the fire pretending to supervise it.
