Cape Malay Sosaties

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg boneless lamb leg or shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
• 200 g dried apricots
• 3 onions
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbsp mild curry powder
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 6 fresh curry leaves
• 3 tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 250 ml water
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 12 bamboo skewers

Before you cook

• Cut the lamb into even 3 cm cubes and put them in a large non-metal bowl
• Finely chop one onion, and cut the other two into wedges, separating them into single petals
• Soak the dried apricots in warm water for 20 minutes, then drain them
• Soak the bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the finely chopped onion for six minutes, until it turns translucent.
2. Stir in the garlic, curry powder, turmeric, cumin and curry leaves and fry for ninety seconds, until the spices smell toasted rather than raw.
3. Add the tamarind paste, apricot jam, brown sugar, salt and water, and simmer for five minutes into a loose sauce.
4. Take the pan off the heat and leave the sauce until it is completely cold.
5. Pour the cold sauce over the cubed lamb and turn the meat until every piece is coated.
6. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least twelve hours, stirring once part way through.
7. Lift the lamb out of the marinade, keeping every drop of the sauce, and thread it onto the skewers, alternating with onion petals and soaked apricots.
8. Slake the cornflour with two tablespoons of water, whisk it into the reserved marinade in a small pan, and simmer for four minutes until glossy.
9. Grill the sosaties over medium coals for twelve to fifteen minutes, turning them every three minutes, until browned outside and just pink at the centre.
10. Brush the skewers with the warm sauce over the last three minutes on the fire.
11. Rest the sosaties for five minutes and serve with yellow rice and the remaining sauce.