Happy long weekend South Africa! Nothing quite says “day off” like a braai on a sunny day- and the weather is still perfect for this. If you’re inviting friends ’round, Pregos make a great meal- easy to feed to a crowd, bulked up by the Portuguese roll which is also easily traded for the healthy salad on the side. Add toppings like pickles, chopped salad, caramelised onion and a range of chilli sauces to your buffet to give your Prego braai some zing! This recipe makes 12 Pregos.

Here’s what goes in:

6 chicken breast fillets, halved

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon of garlic, crushed or chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

Olive oil, for frying

Half a teaspoon of ground cumin

Half a teaspoon of ground coriander

1 teaspoon of paprika

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 bottle of tomato passata (720ml)

1 small red chilli, de-seeded and chopped (or you can use bottled chilli)

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Half a cup of water

A quarter cup of white wine

A quarter cup of cream

Salt for seasoning

12 Portuguese Rolls

How to do it:

Fry the chopped onion with the garlic until soft and transparent. Add the chopped pepper an continue to fry until the vegetables are soft. Then add the rest of the ingredients, except the cream, and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes, allowing the flavours to intensify. Set this aside to cool.

In the meantime, cut the chicken fillets in half and flatten them out using a meat mallet so that you get two pieces of chicken per breast.

Now puree the Prego sauce in a food processor, getting it as smooth as possible. Use half of the sauce to coat the chicken breasts, adding a little olive oil as well, and reserving the rest for serving. Cover the chicken breasts and marinate them in the fridge for at least 6 hours, or ideally overnight.

Keep the sauce that you’ve reserved in a bottle or airtight container and add the cream to it just before you want to serve the Prego.

The chicken fillets are best flame-grilled and served on a fresh Portuguese roll, with salad toppings of your choice, and of course, a good dose of the Prego sauce!