History

Shisa nyama means burns the meat in isiZulu, and the format began as a way for township butcheries to lift weekend sales: sell the cut over the counter, grill it out back, and the queue stays to eat and drink. Cape Town's version runs on the Cape Flats, where Mzoli Ngcawuzele opened at NY115 in Gugulethu in 2003 selling meat from his garage and turned the address into a weekend institution. Lamb chops, beef ribs, boerewors and basted chicken wings are the standard cuts, weighed at the counter and priced by the kilogram, eaten with pap, chakalaka and a plastic fork.

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg mixed cuts: lamb loin chops, beef short rib and a coil of boerewors
  • 8 chicken wings
  • 2 tbsp coarse salt and 2 tbsp coarse black pepper
  • 2 tbsp barbecue spice or braai salt
  • For the baste: 100ml tomato sauce, 50ml chutney, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp cayenne
  • For the pap: 500ml water, 250ml maize meal, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp butter
  • For the chakalaka: 1 onion, 2 carrots grated, 1 red pepper, 1 tbsp curry powder, 1 tin chopped tomato, 1 tin baked beans

Method

  1. Season the lamb and beef with coarse salt and pepper only, an hour ahead if you can. Toss the wings in the barbecue spice.
  2. Burn a wood fire down to an even coal bed, deep enough to hold steady heat for 40 minutes, and set the grid high.
  3. For the pap, bring the salted water to the boil, rain in the maize meal without stirring, cover and steam 10 minutes, then beat in the butter and steam a further 20 minutes.
  4. For the chakalaka, fry the onion, carrot and pepper for 8 minutes, add the curry powder for 1 minute, then the tomato and beans, and simmer 15 minutes.
  5. Grill the beef rib first, 8 minutes a side, then the lamb chops for 4 minutes a side, then the wings for 12 minutes, basting them only in the last 4 minutes.
  6. Rest the meat 5 minutes on a warm plate, chop the rib between the bones and serve everything on one board with the pap and chakalaka.

Tip from the editors. Baste sugary sauces only at the end: put them on at the start and the sugar burns black long before the meat near the bone is done.

Where to eat shisanyama

Shisanyama in Cape Town

Teez @ 115 ★ 4.0

$$ South AfricanGugulethu

Teez @ 115 grills meat you choose yourself at its own butchery counter on NY115 in Gugulethu, on the Cape Flats side of metropolitan Cape Town.

Why locals goThe site that made Gugulethu famous under its old name still runs the same butchery-then-braai system, yet almost no visitor itinerary lists NY115 by its street number.

TipBuy your own meat at the butchery counter first, then hand the tray to the braai team rather than waiting for table service.

Directions

Rands ★ 3.8

$$ South AfricanKhayelitsha

Rands is a Khayelitsha shisanyama and lifestyle venue on the eastern edge of Cape Town, grilling ribs and wings for big crowds from Thursday to Sunday.

TryBraaied ribs with chakalaka and pap

TipArrive by early afternoon on the first Sunday of the month, the busiest weekend of the calendar.

Directions

Nomzamo Butchery ★ 4.1

$ South AfricanLanga

Nomzamo Butchery is a shisanyama and butchery on Washington Street in Langa, Cape Town, letting customers pick raw meat and have it braaied on site.

TryBasted chicken wings and braaied red meat, weighed at the butchery counter

TipPick your own cut at the butchery counter, then carry it straight to the braai grills out back.

Directions

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