Dried Apricot and Lamb Sosaties

Sosaties are South African kebabs, marinated meat threaded onto skewers with dried apricots and grilled over a braai. Lamb is the national favourite. The name comes from Afrikaans, from sate, the Malay word for skewered meat, and saus for sauce. That etymology points directly at the origin: sosaties are a Cape Malay dish, developed by the community descended from people brought to the Cape from the Indonesian archipelago and South Asia under Dutch colonial rule. The curried, fruit-sweetened marinade is characteristic of that cooking, and it is where South African food gets much of its sweet-savoury instinct. The apricots are the distinctive part. Dried apricots are threaded between the meat, and during grilling they soften and caramelise while the curry and vinegar marinade cuts through the lamb fat. Some of the marinade is usually thickened into a sauce and served alongside. They belong at a braai alongside boerewors, chops and steaks, which is where most South Africans encounter them. Marinating overnight is standard and makes a substantial difference, the acid in the marinade works on the meat over hours.