Southern African cooking centred on sadza (the stiff white-maize porridge), slow-cooked stews and live-fire grilling. Beef, goat, oxtail and chicken dominate the protein; muriwo (collard greens) cooked with tomato and peanut butter, dried kapenta fish and mhanga (pumpkin) round out the table. Dovi (peanut stew), mazondo (cow trotters) and chimodho (steamed cornbread) sit alongside the daily plate of sadza and relish. Onion, tomato, garlic and dried chilli build the flavour; the braai is communal.
Chicken thighs are browned in oil; onions and garlic are softened alongside. Tomato, paprika and peanut butter go in to build the sauce; water loosens it and the pot simmers covered until the chicken is falling off the bone and the sauce coats a wooden spoon. Spinach goes in for the last few minutes. The peanut butter must be smooth and unsweetened.
Onion and garlic fry in oil until soft, beef chunks brown alongside, tomatoes (fresh and tinned) go in with stock and seasoning, and the whole pot simmers low and slow for an hour and a half. The lid stays mostly on. By the end the meat falls when you push it and the sauce coats every piece. The point is the sauce more than the chunks; sadza scoops both.
Oxtail browns hard in batches so the fond builds. Onion, garlic and tomato cook down in the same pot; stock, bay and a beef cube go in; the oxtail returns and braises covered on the lowest heat for three hours. The meat should slide off the bone with a fork. Skim the fat at the end, it's significant.
