Sosaties (South African Kebabs)

Traditionally cubes of fat are skewered in between the pieces of meat to keep everything succulent but I have never done this. I usually thread pieces of onion cut more or less the size of the cube of meat and apricots on for a flavor dimension. If you choose to do only meat that’s wonderful, too! These “kebabs” are usually served on rice with the marinade thickened to become gravy but can be enjoyed with any of your regular barbecue side dishes. The days that we were living in an apartment and did not have a barbecue facility I used to grill these in the oven with just as much success. Prep time does not include overnight marinating time.

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Yields: 12 sosaties

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 kg beef (6 per skewer) or 1 1⁄2 kg lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes (6 per skewer)
• 15  ml gingerroot, scraped clean and finely grated
• 2  garlic cloves, finely grated
• 36  pieces onions
• 24  dried apricots

• Marinade

• 30  g butter
• 2  onions, finely chopped
• 100  ml red wine
• 50  ml water
• 100  ml vinegar
• 15  ml curry powder
• 15  ml sugar
• 3  bay leaves
• 1  ml cayenne pepper
•  black pepper, to taste
•  salt
• 15  ml mustard
• 15  ml soy sauce
• 160  ml ketchup
• 30  ml Worcestershire sauce
• 60  ml  cooking oil

Directions

1. Mix meat, ginger and garlic together and add onion and apricots if you are using them.
2. Heat butter and stir fry chopped onions until soft and golden.
3. Add wine, water, vinegar, curry powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, bay leaves and sugar.
4. Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and leave to cool until warm.
6. Blend in remaining ingredients and pour this over the meat.
7. Coat meat well and refrigerate overnight.
8. Thread meat, onion, meat, apricot so that each sosatie has 6 pieces of meat, 3 pieces of onion and 2 apricot halves on each.
9. Barbecue over hot grill taking care not to burn and baste from time to time until done.