Pork and Apricot Sosaties

African cuisine is incredibly widespread, which reflects the melting pot of cultures. In fact there are eleven official languages! South Africa has also had its share of disputes because its land is rich in gold and diamonds. Over time it has been invaded, colonized, or settled by a number of other countries including the Dutch, British, French, Indians, and other European countries. With its incredibly diverse history, you can begin to imagine the scope of their cuisine.

Unlike Zimbabwe and Egypt, South African cuisine is generous with meats and barbecues (braai) are quite common. Something I was unaware of was South Africa’s status as a major wine producer with some of the best vineyards located in valleys. Despite it’s array of cuisines, impoverished (one-fourth of the population) live off less than $1.25 a day. Here in the states you might not even be able to buy a piece of meat for that cheap. Although the middle class lead lives more similar to those of North America and Eastern Europe and many South Africans have embraced an “eating out” culture in which fast food restaurants and chains have become popular – not necessarily American ones, but local chains.

I decided to choose a recipe that embraced the presence of meats as well as fruits and went with a type of grilled kebab called Sosaties. These are typically made from lamb or pork which is marinated in onions, garlic, curry, and tamarind paste for a couple days and then strung on skewers with dried fruits, mushrooms, or peppers. I decided to go with pork since I’ve yet to make anything with pork and I used dried apricots for my fruit. Having no access to a barbecue, I cooked mine in the oven at 370F and they cooked perfectly.

I really liked the flavor that the marinade added to the meat, it was slightly sweet, but tangy from the vinegar and tamarind paste and my meat wasn’t dry at all. I would definitely marinate meat like this again since the flavor was unique and very different from the typical kebabs I’ve had in the past. I would even experiment with other meats like beef and maybe even seafood like shrimp.

However, despite how much I liked the flavor of the meat, I was not a big fan of the apricots which were soaked in dry sherry. I think they would have tasted much better if they were marinated with the meat and the sherry was too overpowering for me. I also think I’ve discovered I have a bit of a “texture” problem with dried fruits that are cooked, they become too mushy and slightly slimy for me. I might try yellow bell peppers next time instead and cut out the sherry, I could see that going over better with my taste buds.

In all, I think this is a good example of a more exotic flavored dish that I liked, while yesterdays stew was an exotic dish that I didn’t like so much. I’ve realized because of this it’s important not to discount any dish before taking a bite, you might just be surprised how the flavors mesh together.