beef • black pepper • cayenne pepper or red pepper • chile pepper • cumin • garlic • ginger • goat • lamb • lamb or mutton • lemon juice • lime juice • Maggi® sauce or Maggi® cube • oil • oil (olive oil) • onion • paprika • parsley • pimentos • red pepper flakes • salt • sweet green pepper (bell pepper) • tomato • vinegar (cider vinegar) • Northern Africa • Sub-Saharan Africa • Central Africa • Eastern Africa • Southern Africa • Western Africa
Brochettes
Kebabs, kabobs, or shish kebabs (from the Turkish, siskebabi, roasted meat) are popular all over the world. What could be more basic than roasting meat on a stick? Scholars think that meat (or other food) was first cooked in Africa tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago — and Africans have been roasting meat ever since. In French-speaking Africa, sticks of roasted meat are called brochettes, (from the French word for “skewer”), and they are often sold by vendors on city streets. There are lots of ways to prepare brochettes. Lamb (meat and kidneys) is preferred in Northern Africa; in Sub-Saharan Africa various meats are used. The basic process is to marinate the meat, thread it on a skewer, and grill it over a fire. There are no quantities for the ingredients in these recipes: how you make your marinade depends on how much meat you’re cooking and what ingredients you like. (However, as a guide, the ingredients are listed by volume from largest to smallest.)
Brochettes Recipe
Meat, marinated and roasted on a stick.
Ingredients
3 lbs beef (or lamb, or goat; or beef or lamb liver, kidney, or heart); cut into bite-sized pieces (kidney, especially, should be rinsed several times in cold water)
onion, sweet green pepper, tomatoes (optional); cut into bite-sized pieces
Marinade # 1 (Peri-Peri style)
cooking oil
hot chile pepper, finely chopped
lemon juice or lime juice (or cider vinegar)
garlic, minced
cayenne pepper or red pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
paprika
salt
Marinade # 2 (Coupé-Coupé style)
cooking oil
Maggi® sauce (L'Arome Maggi®) or Maggi® cubes mixed with water
cayenne pepper or red pepper
Marinade # 3 (Western Africa style)
cooking oil
vinegar (or cider vinegar)
tomato, chopped
onion, finely chopped
garlic, minced
fresh ginger, minced
cayenne pepper or red pepper
salt
Marinade # 4 (Northern Africa style)
oil (olive oil if possible)
vinegar (or cider vinegar)
onion, finely chopped
chile pepper, finely chopped
parsley, minced
cumin
black pepper
paprika
salt
Marinade # 5 (Northern Africa style)
oil (olive oil if possible)
pimentos, finely chopped
black pepper
salt
Instructions
1
Use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to grind together all of the marinade ingredients. In a glass bowl mix the meat and marinade, thoroughly covering the meat. Allow the meat to marinate for at least an hour, several hours if possible.
2
Place the meat (and vegetables, if desired) on skewers. Cook the skewered meat on an outdoor grill, or under the oven broiler. Baste with the remaining marinade, being sure that the marinade is fully cooked after the last basting.
Ingredients
3 lbs beef (or lamb, or goat; or beef or lamb liver, kidney, or heart); cut into bite-sized pieces (kidney, especially, should be rinsed several times in cold water)
onion, sweet green pepper, tomatoes (optional); cut into bite-sized pieces
Marinade # 1 (Peri-Peri style)
cooking oil
hot chile pepper, finely chopped
lemon juice or lime juice (or cider vinegar)
garlic, minced
cayenne pepper or red pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
paprika
salt
Marinade # 2 (Coupé-Coupé style)
cooking oil
Maggi® sauce (L'Arome Maggi®) or Maggi® cubes mixed with water
cayenne pepper or red pepper
Marinade # 3 (Western Africa style)
cooking oil
vinegar (or cider vinegar)
tomato, chopped
onion, finely chopped
garlic, minced
fresh ginger, minced
cayenne pepper or red pepper
salt
Marinade # 4 (Northern Africa style)
oil (olive oil if possible)
vinegar (or cider vinegar)
onion, finely chopped
chile pepper, finely chopped
parsley, minced
cumin
black pepper
paprika
salt
Marinade # 5 (Northern Africa style)
oil (olive oil if possible)
pimentos, finely chopped
black pepper
salt
Directions
1
Use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to grind together all of the marinade ingredients. In a glass bowl mix the meat and marinade, thoroughly covering the meat. Allow the meat to marinate for at least an hour, several hours if possible.
2
Place the meat (and vegetables, if desired) on skewers. Cook the skewered meat on an outdoor grill, or under the oven broiler. Baste with the remaining marinade, being sure that the marinade is fully cooked after the last basting.
Serve with Rice or bread, and African Hot Sauce or Pili-Pili Sauce.
Other African Meat-on-a-Skewer recipes
Other meat-on-a-skewer dishes found in Africa are mishkaki, suya, and sosaties, and kofta.
Mishkaki — Swahili shish kebabs (from Eastern Africa) with an Indian flavor.
Suya — West African shish kebabs with a peanuty spice rub.
Sosaties (soesaties, sasaties, sassatees, etc.) — a Malay-inspired dish popular in South Africa, related to satay of Malaysia. Making sosaties involves briefly cooking a complex marinade (of seasonings, spices, apricot fruit or jam, etc.) in which lamb meat is marinated for two or three days before being grilled. (See the “Rare Recipe” excerpts from African Cooking by Laurens van der Post. )
Kofta — evidently of Turkish origin, brought to Eastern Africa from India and Arabia, are made with a mixture of minced meat and seasonings. It is then molded onto skewers and cooked on a grill. It can also be formed into patties or meatballs and cooked in a pan.