Heritage Day braai salads to try with indigenous ingredients

Pictures: Getty Images/Graham Motanari

Heritage Day is coming up, the day people braai, sing, dance, and celebrate South Africa’s heritage, history, and culture. It is also a time for perfectly marinated meat to grace the braai stand, and the most delicious side salads to decorate our plates. ‘Tis the time for seven colours.

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If you are exhausted by the main features of salads, year in, year out, for every national occasion, and have probably tried different approaches, here are a few dishes you can try with an intentional twist.

These salads feature crops that grow in South Africa.

1. Loaded sorghum salad

In many households, sorghum is used mainly for porridge, but there are various ways to prepare the superfood grain.

One way is to add it to this loaded sorghum salad. You will need 250g of sorghum, a half cup of sun-dried tomato pesto, half of a large head of broccoli, finely chopped, 240g sun-dried tomatoes, one cup of black and green olives, pitted and quartered, 100g plain feta, a quarter cup red onion, diced, and 60g salad onions, finely sliced.

Add a few herbs to taste and garnish, as recommended by Woolworths.

2. Rainbow millet salad

Millet is native to Asia and Africa and has similar properties and benefits to sorghum.

Usually, the grain is cooked like rice porridge, called millet rice, with a stew. This twist is fresh and filling and can be enjoyed at the braai. You will need the millet and red and green cabbage. For heat, add jalapeño or any spicy pepper of your choosing. Robot peppers work as well for those who don’t crave the heat. Finally, add avocado and a salad dressing of your choice.

The method is fairly easy: boil the millet for four minutes. Chop your veggies, prepare the dressing, and combine.

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3. Morogo

Morogo is a staple in South African homes. There are many different ways to prepare the side dish. Prepare oil, chopped onions, the morogo, and large tomatoes.

4. Chakalaka with cowpeas

Also known as black-eyed peas, cowpeas are indigenous to Africa. This can be used as a substitute for baked beans in chakalaka. You can cook the dish as usual, but when you get to the stage of adding the baked beans, simply add the cowpeas.

5. Marula and cucumber salad

This refreshing, hydrating and tasty salad is perfect for summer. The marula fruit replaces the pineapple in the salad. All you will need is marula fruit, cucumber, bell peppers, red onions, jalapeño, and a homemade salad dressing.

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