Chicken Sosaties (South Africa)

Spiced Skewered Chicken
Serves 4 to 6

The term sosaties comes from the Malay words sate, meaning "spiced sauce" and sesaste, meaning "skewered meat." Early Cape spellings of the word range from soesaties to sasaties to sassatees. While the traditional sosaties are prepared from lamb, chicken is increasingly popular. Supermarkets in large cities even sell pre-marinated chicken pieces already on the skewer. The chicken needs to marinate for 24 hours before cooking.

1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 onions, thinly sliced
l tablespoon hot Madras curry powder
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
l tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cut the chicken into 3/4 inch cubes and place them in a deep non-reactive bowl. Heat the oil in a non-reactive saucepan and fry the onions until they are lightly browned. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 2 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly to make sure that the sugar has dissolved. Allow the marinade to cool and pour it over the chicken. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 24 hours.

When ready to grill the chicken pieces, remove them from the marinade, drain them, place them on skewers, and grill over hot coals or under the broiler for 10 minutes, turning once, or until the chicken is cooked through.

The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent
By Jessica B. Harris
Simon & Schuster
Hardback, $25.00
382 pages
ISBN: 0-684-80275-9
Recipe Reprinted by permission.