Chicken Sosaties

December 07, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Hot & Spicy, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Lamb, Curries

Chicken Sosaties Braaied on the Big Green Egg

Sosaties (skewered meat) marinated in a curry sauce – traditionally formed part of the rijsttafel of java, an elaborate banquet which always included at least two meat dishes, one fish course and a curry dish, as well as several vegetables, served on cooked rice and mixed with a strong curry sauce. Today we tend to cook sosaties over the coals, and any braai cook worth his or her salt has a 'secret recipe 'for the marinade. Traditionally its made with lamb but you can use any meat that you prefer and I'm going to use chicken today. I will give you my recipe and this is the same recipe that we use in the Sosaties that we sell in out shop. So if you don’t want to make this yourself you can just click here and you can add them to your shopping basket on our website www.biltong.co.uk . You can also buy the ingredients for this recipe from us if you want to make this yourself.

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME:10-15MINS

Marinade for Sosaties

125g smooth All gold or Koo apricot jam

3 x cloves garlic, crushed

1 x piece fresh ginger crushed

2 x bay or lemon leaves

2 tbs Rajh curry powder (choose your own strength) I used hot

25 ml wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp milled pepper

1 x Green pepper chopped

1 x Red pepper chopped

1 x medium onions chopped

Ingredients for the Sosaties

1 kg chicken/leg of lamb or any meat you prefer, cut into 2,5 cm cubes
6 x bamboo Skewers
2 x medium onions, quartered and separated
250 g dried apricots
1 x Green pepper cubed
1 x Red pepper cubed

Method for making Sosatie Marinade

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and use a blender to make into a paste. Add the mixture to a saucepan and bring to the boil and boil for 1 minutes, stirring occasionally, leave to cool. Transfer the marinade to a large dish and add the chicken, peppers and onion and marinate for at least 1 hour (or overnight preferably) in the fridge, turning 2-3 times. Remove the meat from the marinade and thread it onto skewers alternating with the peppers, apricots and onion.

Method for cooking the Sosaties

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F)
Pre soak your skewers for at least an hour before hand, unlike myself who forgot ;-) this will stop them from burning.
Braai the sosaties over moderate/hot coals, or grill in the oven, turning frequently, for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked. On the BigGreenEgg believe it or not you only need to cook them for 2 mins on each side. The heat is so intense that it cooks then quickly but leaves them so moist and tender.

Serve with some Tastic rice and a fresh salad and there it is, a fantastic taste of home. Give them a try chicken, lamb, beef or pork they all work really well with this recipe. Enjoy until next week weather permitting, SNOW on the way!!!!

Bobotie
cooked on the Big Green Egg / Braai

Bobotie on the Braai!

November 23, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Beef, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Curries, Lamb, Potjiekos

Bobotie cooked on the Big Green Egg in storm force winds!

I think I must be nearly more English now than South African because all I do is go on about the weather it seems! It's been one of those weeks again, if you live or lived in Cape Town during the winter on a really bad day you might have experienced this. But it nearly 5 weeks now and I think we might have seen the sun only a handful of time and I have to braai again. So its more of that home comfort food this week “Bobotie” and I've never made this either. It's been a great learning curve so far this mad thing I decided to do after a few dop's and Jan is loving every bit of it.

We are going to be using one of Weners's Original spice packs again and we will have 5 free packs to give away again this week, to 5 lucky people who leave a comment at the end of this weeks blog.

This dish is a very traditional one and contrary to what is widely believed, bobotie did not come with the slaves from Indonesia. It was actually brought from Holland by founding father Jan van Riebeeck in 1652. Why then are the spices, so typical of Indonesian and Sri Lankan cooking? Because through the Dutch East India Company who sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, the Netherlands had a lively spice trade with the East in those days. However we can assume that the original dish was probably much simpler and that the slaves who brought with them their distinctive and popular way of cooking must have improved on the Dutch recipe … The final result should be soft but firm, spicy and with just a hint of curry but this is not a curry dish.

I am going to make this with a beef mince, mainly because I haven’t got any lamb in lol. This dish is quite quick to prepare and cook and the end result is fantastic, it just reminds me so much of times back home in SA. Ok lets crack on....

SERVES 4-6 - PREP: 10 MINS - COOK TIME: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients for the Bobotie and topping

500g / 1lbs beef or lamb mince
1 x medium onion chopped
1 x large slice of stale bread
25g / ¼ cup seedless raisins
1 tbsp apricot jam / chutney
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
25g ¼ cup flaked or chopped almond (optional)
½ tsp grated fresh ginger (optional)
250ml / 1 cup milk
2 x eggs (3 would be better I think)
juice ¼ lemon

Method for cooking Bobotie

Preheat the Braai to 180°C (360°F).
Soak the bread in the half the milk.
Butter a 25cm / 10” casserole dish.
Gently squeeze the milk out of the bread but don't throw it away keep and add back with the rest of the milk.
Crumble the bread with your hand or a fork and mix into the mince.
Lightly fry of the onions, garlic and ginger in some olive oil stirring continually.
Add the mince and brown off.
Add the main pack of spices from the Werner's kit and mix in well, cook for another couple of minutes and remove from the heat.
Beat up one of the eggs and mix into the meat mixture along with the raisins, lemon juice apricot jam / chutney and almonds.
Add ½ the milk and add pepper to taste.
Mix thoroughly and then spoon into the casserole dish.
Finally smooth off the top of the mince so that it really flat.

Method for cooking topping

Beat the two remaining eggs (I only used one but I think two would be better) and add the balance of the milk. Don't be tempted to add more milk otherwise it will not set properly.
Gently pour onto the top of the meat mixture.
Lay the cinnamon bark in the middle and push it just below the mixture.
Float the bay leaves on the top
Bake in the braai / oven for 30-40 minutes or until it golden and brown.

Unfortunately I'm afraid that we had to carry out the first part of this recipe inside on the stove as the wind was blowing so hard the fire just could not be controlled with the lid open. However I did put it in the braai to cook as you can see and it was just magical. To be honest as a laaitie I never really liked the look of this dish but I remember that aroma and it was exactly as I remembered. But as I'm now grown up now (Jan doesn’t think so) so I thought I better try it tonight, especially as if I did not eat it there was “niks anders om te eet” nothing else to eat. Serve this with some yellow (saffron) rice and a fresh salad and man that's great, just add a dollop of Mrs Balls Chutney and your set to go.

Amazing “Ongelooflike” it's was truly great, I had been missing out on this fantastic dish for the last 50 years what a doos! If you have never tried to cook this don’t be scared, if I can do it then I promise you will be able too, give it a go.

5 Free Packs of Bobotie Spice to be won

If you would like to win one of the Werner's Bobotie spice packs then please leave some feed back and you could be 1 of 5 lucky people that get a chance to make this really traditional South African recipe (entry closes 7th December 2012). Also I love to hear what you think about what i'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook.

All the best until next week “Alles van die beste tot volgende week” Larry

Slow Braaied Belly of Pork

November 16, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Pork, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Roasts

Slow Braaied Belly of Pork with Ginger-Caramel Sauce

This week I will be braaiing a belly of pork which will give you everything you could want from one dish. This has become a dish that every pub and restaurant seems to have on their menu and the reason for this is that its cheap to make. The only problem is that it take a long time to cook as you need to do this nice and slowly so that all the excess fat is melted away.

Serves 4-6 - Prep: 30 mins - Cook Time: 4-5 hours

Ingredients for Ginger-Caramel Sauce

¼ cup of palm sugar
¼ cup water
2 x red chillies cut into slithers
2 x green chillies cut into slithers
1 x root of fresh ginger cut into slithers
2 tbs Thai fish sauce
1 x juice of fresh lime

Ingredients for Pork

3 kg of Belly of pork with ribs left on
2 x Cups of chicken stock
1 x cup of soy sauce
2 x star anise
1 x cinnamon stick
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs salt
1 tbs juniper berries

Method for making Caramel Sauce

In a saucepan, slowly bring the palm sugar and water to the boil.
Simmer until mixture starts to caramelise.
Add the chillies, ginger, Thai fish sauce and lime juice and cook slowly for 2 more minutes

Method for cooking Pork

Preheat the Braai to 300°C (570°F)
Score the pork in lines about 2.5cm/1 inch apart, just through the skin.
Rub the salt into the skin, this will help it crisp up
Place the pork into a deep pan
Add stock and spice to the pan, place in the braai and close the lid for 15-20 mins, so that it seals the meat nicely
Bring the heat of the braai down to 180°C (355°F) cover and leave to cook for 3-4hrs
Make sure that you check that the stock has not evaporated, if it does add some water to it

You can serve this with mashed potatoes and vegetables or rice and salad, whatever take your fancy. I've gone with the mash and veg as it's turning cold over here now and this makes for a great winters evening dinner.

To serve this you are going to have to dissect the pork into its three different components. Take the meat off the braai (or out of the oven) and leave to sit for 20 mins, this will relax the meat and stop the juices from coming out.

Then slide a sharp knife under the skin and take it off so that you can either put it back on the braai or under a hot grill to crisp up quickly and make the crackling crispy.

Next slide the knife under the main part of the meat but just over the ribs. This will separate the two, see images for this. Cut the ribs up and portion the meat ready to serve.

As you can see this makes for a hearty meal on a cold day, plate up and the pour the Caramel sauce over the meat and potato (definitely not the crackling) serve up the freshly steamed vegetables and you're ready to go. This will lift the whole dish and give it the wow factor.

Give this ago, you will not be disappointed, until next week enjoy......

Boerewors Rolls!

November 09, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Food Websites, Beef, Big Green Egg, Video

Classic Boerie Rolls

The sun finally came out this week for one afternoon anyway, so I thought lets have a classic SA lunch "Boerewors Rolls" what more could you ask for. There's not a great deal to say or do about cooking boerewors but there are definitely things that you should never do to any good boerewors and I will let you in on them shortly. There is also a video about how we make our Wors at the end of this weeks blog, be sure to watch and let us know what you think.

I'm cooking boerewors that we have been making for over 33 years now in our factory and I've been told by many that they think thats its amongst the best there is. WIth 14 different varieties to choose from we think that you should find one that you like or suits you dietary requirements but i am going to cook our Original Beef Boerewors for this blog. You can take a look at the range that we make here www.biltong.co.uk.

For 2 lucky followers who leave a comment below or a tip on how to braai Boerewors (on UK mainland only, sorry) we will be giving away a pack of Boerewors and a bottle of Mrs Ball Chutney so you can enjoy your own lekker lunch. I will not giving you the recipe to our Boerewors as this is a closely guarded family secret but their at 1000's of recipes out there on the internet. If you have a recipe you are willing to share then post it in the comments area below and you might win one of this weeks give away prizes.

Serves 3-4 - Prep: 2 mins - Cook Time: 3-4mins on each side

Ingredients

700g good quality Boerewors
3-4 Rolls or French stick
Mrs Ball chutney any flavour
Salad or any other accompaniments

Boerewors Braaiing Tips

Never, ever prick the skins of good quality Boerewors, all this does is it lets the juices out and you will end up with dry tasteless wors. If you are not lucky enough to be able to get a good quality wors then you will end up with a load of fat in the wors and it will not taste great.
Only turn the boerewors once when cooking, this helps avoid the wors breaking.
Let the wors cook until it caramelises on one side before you turn it, this stops the wors from sticking to the grills and tearing.
Cook the wors in a coil and open it up slightly so that the heat can get to all sides, close it up before turning
Always cook on a braai that is hot enough to crisp the skin and not boil the wors, otherwise this will make the skins really tough.

Win pack of Boerewors and a bottle of Mrs Ball Chutney

We will be giving away a pack of Boerewors and a bottle of Mrs Ball Chutney to 2 lucky followers who leave a comment below or a tip on how to braai Boerewors, leave a recipe or just make a comment (only to residence on the UK mainland, sorry entry closes on the 23rd November 12). That doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you wherever you live, please let me know what you think or have to say.

Watch my video on how we make our Boerewors and cook it to perfection!

Don't forget to leave your comments and win some great goodies, take care until next week...

Braaied "Mad Moroccan Lamb"

November 02, 2012 by Larry Susman in Meat, Braai, Big Green Egg, Recipes, Lamb, Potjiekos, Roasts

Slow Braaied Shoulder of Lamb

Howzit, I hope that I find you all well after the storms this week here in the UK but more importantly in the USA where I know we have some followers and where this blog is hosted. Sorry if you could not access the blog for a short time but the guys who look after this blog did a magnificent job of keeping it up even after the flood in New York where they are based, carrying diesel up 17 floors to the generator that kept the servers going. Many thanks guys, our thoughts go out to all those families who lost loved ones and we hope that everybody recovers form the devastation that "Storm Sandy" caused.

I was going to make Peri-Peri Baby Chicken but I thought that I needed something a bit more substantial this week to keep me warm. So I'm trying a recipe from the boy wonder "Jamie Oliver" and believe me when I say its worth the time this will take to cook. There are three parts to this recipe so lets crack on...

Lamb Preparation:

Serves 6-8 - Prep: 20 mins - Cook Time: 3-4hrs

Method

Preheat the Braai to 220°C (425°F)
Score the lamb in a diamond pattern about 2.5cm/1 inch apart, quite deep so that the spices penetrate though out.
Either grind you spiced in a pestle and mortar or in a electric grind if you have one
Rub the spices all over the lamb top and bottom and make sure that you rub it in well in the groves.
Sprinkle the rosemary on and rub some into the cuts.
Place the lamb in a roasting pan and put in the braai to cook for 2hrs.

Ingredients

1 x 2kg/4.5lb Shoulder of Lamb
2 tsp cumin seed
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp black peppercorns
2-3 dried red chillies
2 tsp salt
handful of fresh rosemary

Chickpeas Preparation:

Prep: 5 mins - Cook Time: 30 min

Method

Heat some olive oil and fry the onions, cinnamon and herbs with a pinch of salt and pepper for about 15 mins until they soften.
Add the chickpeas with about 425ml of water and the vinegar
Simmer on a medium heat until they all breakdown in to a nice thick consistency, take of the heat for use later.

Ingredients

Olive oil to fry off the following
4 x Large red pinions, peeled and sliced
1 x Cinnamon stick
Bunch of fresh thyme or marjoram leaves roughly chopped
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to season
2 x tins or jars of chickpeas
200ml balsamic vinegar

Couscous Preparation:
Prep: 5 mins - Cook Time: 10 min

Method

Bring The stock to the boil, add the fruit and season, simmer for 5 mins.
Add a shot of olive oil and the couscous then remove from the heat so that it soaks up all the liquid.
When it has all been soaked up and there is no liquid left, poor on to a flat tray drizzle with olive oil and set aside for later.

Ingredients

1.1 Lt / 2 pints of Vegetable stock
250g raisins, dates, apricots, sour cherries or a mix of all of these.
Olive oil
700g couscous
2 x Lemons halved

After about 2hrs the lamb needs to be taken out of the Braai/oven. Turn the braai down to 200°C (400°F) so it's ready for when you put the dish back in. Take the lamb out of the roasting pan and put aside. Pour away the oil and return the pan to a low heat and add a little water, stirring up all those juices that had stuck to the bottom of the pan. Then get a large dish with high sides of about 10-12 cm that will take the lamb and rub olive oil around it. Sprinkle about 2.5 cm of couscous on the bottom and sides, then spoon on the chickpea mixture into the middle. Then take the lamb and place on top of the couscous and pour the meat juices all over the meat. Take the remainder of the couscous and enclose the lamb so that it looks like its in an envelope of couscous. Cut up the lemons and place around the sides. Now get a piece of wax paper and make it wet (not that easy to do but crunch it up under a tap) then rub some olive oil over the wax paper and place on top of the couscous. Cover this with some tinfoil and then its ready to go back in the braai for another 1-2 hrs on a lower heat.

You will know when the meat is done just poke a knife thought the couscous and if the meat falls off the bone easily then it ready to serve. take the whole dish to the table, part the couscous and break the meat off the bone and serve. All the juices run to the bottom of this dish and the couscous absorbs most of it, just serve with some chopped up coriander and red chillies to top it off. Another nice touch is to serve a dollop of yoghurt with this along with a fresh green salad and a sweet chutney.

The spices on the meat are truly amazing and it has quite a kick to it from the chillies, it was really worth the time it took to prepare this and the photos just don't do it justice. There's a lot of work to make this but whoever you serve this up to will really appreciate the effort.

Chicken Sosaties Braaied on the Big Green Egg

SERVES 4-6: PREP: 15MINS: MARINATE 1HR: COOK TIME:10-15MINS

Marinade for Sosaties

Ingredients for the Sosaties

Method for making Sosatie Marinade

Method for cooking the Sosaties

Bobotie cooked on the Big Green Egg in storm force winds!

SERVES 4-6 - PREP: 10 MINS - COOK TIME: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients for the Bobotie and topping

Method for cooking Bobotie

Method for cooking topping

5 Free Packs of Bobotie Spice to be won

Slow Braaied Belly of Pork with Ginger-Caramel Sauce

Serves 4-6 - Prep: 30 mins - Cook Time: 4-5 hours

Ingredients for Ginger-Caramel Sauce

Ingredients for Pork

Method for making Caramel Sauce

Method for cooking Pork

Give this ago, you will not be disappointed, until next week enjoy......

Classic Boerie Rolls

Serves 3-4 - Prep: 2 mins - Cook Time: 3-4mins on each side

Ingredients

Boerewors Braaiing Tips

Win pack of Boerewors and a bottle of Mrs Ball Chutney

Watch my video on how we make our Boerewors and cook it to perfection!

Slow Braaied Shoulder of Lamb

Lamb Preparation:

Serves 6-8 - Prep: 20 mins - Cook Time: 3-4hrs

Method

Ingredients

Chickpeas Preparation:

Prep: 5 mins - Cook Time: 30 min

Method

Ingredients

Couscous Preparation: Prep: 5 mins - Cook Time: 10 min

Method

Ingredients

Couscous Preparation:
Prep: 5 mins - Cook Time: 10 min