Proudly South African

South Africa as a wonderfully proud food history. It's a melting pot of cultures, young and old, which have helped to develop a cuisine that has lots of flavour and is not afraid to use spices. It also involves using cuts of meat, which might normally be thrown away.

Here in the Cape, the Dutch relied heavily on the Malay salves to do all the work, (lucky for us, or we could be living in little blue houses on a canal, eating bread and cheese), evident in the architecture, furniture building and the food.

Because of these wonderfully colourful people (the slaves that is) we have some of the most beautiful buildings, hand craved and crafted furniture and food that you would sell your house and furniture for!

One such dish is the sosatie. Food on a stick is not the clever part, it's the combination of flavours which make, what should be a tough piece of old mutton, into a succulent cube of heaven, kebab steeped in a spicy curry marinade. The secret to a good sosatie is also in the cooking of the marinade and a good bit of fat is essential.

I took the not so humble sosatie to a new level last night, using lamb cutlets. The result was very good and the meat was soft, succulent and loaded with flavour.

Lamb chop Sosaties

5 Lamb chop Cutlets
2 Tablespoons Spice Mecca Sosatie Spice
2 Tablespoons Crushed Garlic and Ginger Paste
½ cup Red Wine Vinegar
½ cup Plain Yogurt
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Salt

Marinade the chops in the above for 24 hours (or overnight) - the more you marinade it, the softer the meat becomes.

Grill the chops on a hot griddle pan or over the coals until just done.
Best served with creamy mustard mash.

“A cat will be your friend, but never your slave.”