South African Apricot Spiced Chicken Sosaties
My hubby is half South African so I’ve been lucky enough to try several traditional South African dishes. These chicken sosaties are by far my favourite!This recipe is such an incredible one that I wanted it at our wedding. Thankfully, our caterers were happy to receive the recipe from my father-in-law and integrate it into our menu!All credit for these chicken sosaties goes to the marinade — its flavour is perfectly balanced. The sweet apricot jam paired with warming spices of cinnamon, ginger and allspice and savoury flavours of curry powder, onion and garlic, make this sosatie marinade so unique and intricate in its depth of flavours.Now you may be thinking, what is a sosatie?! Sosaties are a traditional South African meat dish typically barbecued on skewers. In their culture, they call barbecuing a Braai. Meats are usually cooked over charcoal and marinated overnight in delectable spices & mixes.It’s pretty interesting that there are SO many different names for what I call kebabs, a word I’ve grown accustomed to back home in Lebanon. Others names by other cultures include: satay, brochette, souvlaki, and the list goes on.We made these chicken sosaties in one of my summer cooking camps for kids, multicultural cooking — fitting right?! My father-in-law came in for the day and was our very own grill master!As a side, we made two traditional South African salads: a carrot salad and a beet salad (pictured above). For the dressing, we used a yogurt-based dressing and added avocado oil mayonnaise from Chosen Foods for unbeatable creaminess.
Ingredients
The Meat:
- 3 ½ lbs chicken
- 4 onions peeled and each onion cut crosswise into 2-3 pieces
- 14 wooden skewers
The Marinade:
- 2 onion cut into fine rings
- oil for panfrying
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds crushed
- 5 bay leaves bruised
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp curry powder mild
- 1 tsp ground ginger or 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger heaped
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- ¾ cup white vinegar
- 1 tbsp apricot jam
- 4 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- 1. Make the marinade first, as it has to cool down completely. Use a large pot.
- 2. Fry the onion rings in oil until light brown. Stir now and then.
- 3. While the onions fry, mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- 4. Now, add al the liquid ingredients together in a bowl except for the milk and water. Add the jam, garlic, and fresh ginger (if you are using) to this mixture too.
- 5. When the onions are light brown, stir in the mixed dry ingredients, and fry for a minute or so to release the flavours. Add an extra splash of oil and stir.
- 6. Turn heat lower, and add the liquids and also add the bay leaves.
- 7. Stir well and simmer slowly until thickened. Now taste carefully: the sauce should neither be too acidic or too sweet but rather spicy and tangy. Adjust by adding either a little more vinegar or lemon juice, or more sugar.
- 8. Cool the sauce, and stir in the milk. It must be of a coating consistency. If you think it is too thick, add a little bit of water and stir well. Leave sauce in the pot, and cut up the meat.
- 9. Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks, not too small.
- 10. Arrange the chicken on the skewers, alternating the different ingredients.
- 11. Take the pot of sauce, roll each sosatie skewer in the sauce, and pack in a plastic container. When all the skewers have been "sauced" up, poor the leftover sauce over the sosaties in the container. Seal airtight and marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 24 hours in the fridge.
- 12. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side in a pan over medium-high heat.
Notes
To use this recipe for chicken thighs, drumsticks, and breast, marinate the chicken before skewering and instead of skewering just cook as is.
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