Date night sosatie extravaganza

Sosatie (pl sosaties) is a traditional South African dish of meat (usually lamb or mutton) cooked on skewers. The term derives from sate (“skewered meat”) and saus (spicy sauce). It is of Cape Malay origin, used in Afrikaans, the primary language of the Cape Malays, and the word has gained greater circulation in South Africa. Marinated, cubed meat (usually lamb) is skewered and braaied (barbecued) shish-kebab style. Sosatie recipes vary, but commonly the ingredients can include cubes of lamb, beef, chicken, dried apricots, red onions and mixed peppers. Source: Wikipedia

I think most South Africans will agree that sosaties are an essential ingredient for any traditional South African braai. I decided to make four types of different sosaties using different marinades and different meats for date night.

For the beef sosaties I used sirloin steak, for the pork I used pork fillets, for the chicken I used skinless breasts and for the lamb I used a deboned leg of lamb.

The marinades below are enough to make four decent size sosaties.

Beef marinade
  • 50ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 50ml soy sauce
  • 15ml lemon juice
  • 2 crushed and finely chopped garlic cloves
  • 5ml brown sugar
  • 2.5ml crushed black pepper corns
  • 25ml roasted and then crushed coriander seeds
  • 50ml olive oil
Chicken marinade
  • Lemon zest of half a lemon
  • 15ml lemon juice
  • 5ml dried oregano
  • 5ml smoked paprika
  • 2.5ml crushed black pepper corns
  • 15ml olive
Lamb marinade
  • 100ml full cream Bulgarian (or plain) yogurt
  • 25ml olive oil
  • Lemon zest of half a lemon
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary (leaves removed from the branch)
  • 5ml smoked paprika
  • 5ml cumin seeds
Pork marinade
  • Teriyaki sauce (see below)
  • 25ml red wine vinegar
  • 25ml olive oil
  • 5ml brown sugar
  • 5ml chili flakes
Teriyaki sauce
  • 25ml soy sauce
  • 50ml water
  • 25ml dry sherry
  • 2 crushed and  chopped cloves of garlic
  • 1.5cm piece of fresh ginger finely grated

Mix the ingredients of the different marinades well, add the applicable meats and then mix again. Put it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Remove it out of the fridge about 3 hours before cooking. I interleaved the beef sosaties with red peppers, the chicken with brown mushrooms, the lamb with dried apricots and the pork with dried mango.

Sosaties ready to be cooked
Sosaties ready to be cooked

Make a fire and cook them making sure that you do not overcook them. The fire must be of medium heat. The lamb and beef must still be pink inside and the chicken and pork must be cooked through, but be careful to overdo them.

Sosaties on the grill
Sosaties on the grill

Serve the sosaties with some oven roasted vegetables and micro-greens.

Sosaties on the plate
Sosaties on the plate

Enjoy!

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