When Life Hands You Lemons…

you grab the salt & tequila… or if, like me, you’re allergic to tequila, then you make a prego sauce 🙂

Those of you that have been following me on twitter and Facebook might have noticed that I love my prego rolls. In fact as far as on-the-go braai food goes it’s right up there with a boerie roll.

So, when a friend suggested I try make my own chilli/prego sauce… I had to give it a bash.

The sauce itself is actually very simple, you’ll need:

• chillis (depending on the required strength of your Prego Sauce)
• 1/2 an onion
• garlic cloves
• fresh ginger
• 1 tsp paprika
• tin of tomato puree
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• and the zest of a lemon – fortunately life just handed you one 😉

Mix all the ingredients together, except the sugar, in a blender and blend until it becomes like a paste. Pour the paste and the sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

So I did all of this. However, my lemon was either too big or I got a little excited on the “lemon zest” part and grated half the lemon into the blender. The end result was a prego sauce that is full of promise, but slightly overbearing on the lemon-vibes. #Fail 🙁

I’ve had some cool suggestions on Facebook and Twitter like adding honey (someone even suggested adding more chili to hide the lemon), but I think the best suggestion came from a twitter friend who happens to be a chef (Alan Myburgh), that I might simply need to let it chill out for a day or two. In many recipes lemon can be overbearing and will eventually become more subtle as the sauce rests over time.

So I’ll give it a day or two and let you know how it goes. I also plan some minor tweaks to the recipe, so I’ll do so too and then post the update in the recipe section once I’m done. #WatchThisSpace

Do you have an epic Prego Sauce recipe, or even just some ideas to make mine better? Please share it with us in the comments below, or drop me a mail.

P.S. Please also visit the braai recipes for more of my favourite braai time recipes.