The weather forecast looks good, you’ve invited some friends over and the plan is satiate them with a good old braai and some beer. You start a shopping list –boerie, bread rolls, chops, garlic bread and then remember that there will a vegetarian in attendance too and no matter how much the thought of catering for a meat free visitor baffles you, you know you can’t leave the guy to eat nothing but bread. Luckily you don’t have to. Here is a list of easy vegetarian braai ideas to pop onto the coals.
 
 
Stuffed butternut

Chop a butternut in half, scoop out the seeds and stuff the cavity with ingredients of your choice. It works nicely to mix up some of the pulp (without the seeds) with chopped button mushrooms, onion, some grated cheese, chutney and a bit of tomato paste. Wrap it up in foil and place in the coals until soft (how soft depends on the vegetarian involved).

Braaied potato/sweet potato

This little meal is even easier to concoct than the others. Simply wrap the potatoes in foil and place in the coals. As they are nearing readiness, heat up a can of sweet corn or baked beans and grate some cheese. When they’re ready, remove them from the coals, cut in quarters but make sure you don’t cut all the way through. Open the potato out a little and cover in sweet corn/baked beans and grate cheese over the top. Alternatively, if your vegetarian is more of a pescatarian, mix up some tuna and a little mayo with some chopped chives and put that into the potato. Cottage cheese works nicely too.

Stuffed peppers

Another vegetable that works well for stuffing is the pepper. Simply hack off the top, scoop out the seeds and fill the pepper with a pre-prepared mixture of cooked rice and chopped mushroom, tomato, onion and any other vegetable which takes your fancy. Ensure you add a few herbs and/or spices to the mixture before you put it into the pepper. Finally replace the top of the pepper, wrap the whole thing in foil and leave until soft.

Toasted sandwiches

While it might not be the most inspired option, there is something really good about eating a smoky cheese and tomato toasty hot off the braai.

Vegetable skewers

Set yourself up with some skewer sticks. Chop up a variety of vegetables such as red, green and yellow peppers, zucchini, mushrooms and onions and stab them onto the skewer stick. A nice touch is to marinade the veggie skewers in a barbeque sauce or rubbing them in an oil and herb rub before putting them on the braai.

And there you have it, a list of vegetarian braai ideas for when you next have a vegetarian over for a braai.

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