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:

• chillies (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 😉

How to make The Prego Sauce Recipe?

Pretty simple actually… 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.

The Verdict?

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.

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.

CHECK IT OUT – My Own Prego Sauce Incoming:

Over the years, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Prego Sauces… every time I find one I really like, the guy making it either disappears or goes and changes the recipe. If you’ve ever chowed a prego burger at one of my BB Bistros, you may have noticed the changing flavour profile… but this is no more: Together with Monjoh’s Chilli Sauces, I’ve finally developed my own, commercially viable, prego sauce that we’ll be manufacturing on a large scale! WOOOHOOOO.

Keep an eye on the sauces & spices section of my Online Braai Shop for when you can get your hands on some of my brand new prego sauce as well.