On a Sunday afternoon, charcoal smoke and the smell of cooking meat drift out of backyards all over the neighborhood. Family and friends gather around the grill, and on the rack, skewers of meat, red onion, and dried apricot sizzle. The surface is coated in the yellow of curry powder and the gloss of jam, and when the edges just start to char, it is time to eat. Sosaties (singular: sosatie) are the sweet, spicy skewers that are a fixture of the South African "braai" (a gathering around a charcoal fire).
Sweet Skewers Grilled in the Smoke of a Braai
Braai is an Afrikaans word that means both "grilling over charcoal or wood fire" and the gathering around that grilled meat. In her book, South African-born cook Dale Gray writes that a Sunday braai is a time when the family gathers, and the smell of grilling meat fills the whole neighborhood. Alongside boerewors sausage and bone-in cuts, sosaties are regulars on that grill.
At South African butchers and supermarkets, it is an ordinary sight to see sosaties sold as ready-marinated skewers. The meat varies: pork, beef, lamb, chicken. At home, people sometimes grill skewers they bought as they are, and sometimes marinate and thread their own family blend.
What surprises you first is that, for a meat dish, it is distinctly sweet. The sweet tartness of apricot jam and dried apricots, the aroma of curry powder, and the acidity of vinegar come together into a flavor halfway between teriyaki and curry. Having all three of sweet, sour, and spicy is the character of sosaties.
Javanese "Sate" Changed Its Name in Cape Town
The name sosatie combines two words. The first half is "sate," the Southeast Asian skewered meat; the second is the Afrikaans "saus," meaning "sauce." In other words, it means "skewers coated in sauce."
The home of this dish is the kitchen of the Cape Malay people of Cape Town. The Cape Malay are descendants of enslaved people and indentured laborers brought from Java and Malaysia to Cape Town in the 17th to 19th centuries to work in shipbuilding and farming. Sosaties are thought to have been born when their homeland's use of spices and skewer-grilling culture met South African meat and fruit. Afrikaans is also the main language of the Cape Malay people, and the word sosatie spread across South Africa.
Cape Malay cooking is known as a kitchen that makes do with what is at hand. According to Gray, the apricot chutney passed down in District Six in Cape Town is thought to have been made at home in place of expensive store-bought chutney. Using jam or chutney in the sosatie marinade is a resourcefulness in that same line.
District Six was a multiethnic neighborhood near the center of Cape Town. Under racial segregation policy, its residents were driven from their homes and forcibly moved to other areas. The District Six Museum, which preserves the memory of the neighborhood, still stands in Cape Town.
Grilling Braai Skewers in a Home Kitchen
Sosaties are best over charcoal, but indoors they also grill well on a grill pan, frying pan, or broiler. Since you want browning and a little char on the surface, a grill pan gives the grill marks that look like a braai.
The meat is, at base, boneless leg of lamb. Leg and shoulder of lamb are available at butchers, imported-meat counters, and online. Lamb shoulder is also a cut often used for sosaties, and because it has a moderate amount of fat, it is less likely to dry out on a skewer. If you can't get lamb, beef round, pork shoulder, or chicken thighs also work. It is a dish made with many meats in South Africa too, so feel free to try it with whatever meat you have.
For the curry powder in the marinade, choose a mild one. An ordinary curry powder from a supermarket is enough. Besides curry powder, the marinade also contains ground coriander to add depth of aroma. If you don't have port or dry sherry, red wine with a little sugar dissolved in it can stand in.
Ingredients (serves 4, makes 12 skewers)
Dried apricots are available in the dried-fruit aisle at the supermarket. Marinated together in the marinade, they plump up by absorbing the meat juices and the marinade, and when grilled, the easily scorched sweetness of the jam turns into a toasty aroma. Dried bay leaves can be used, but they crack easily, so thread them on slowly.
Cutting the meat and onion to the same 2.5 cm size evens the height on the skewer and makes them touch the grill pan uniformly, so there is less uneven cooking.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare states that it is important to cook meat to at least 75°C at the center for at least 1 minute. Even if the outside looks dark from the color of the marinade, the inside may be raw. Wash tongs, chopsticks, and cutting boards that touched raw meat before using them on cooked meat.
If you don't have a grill pan, a broiler also works. The jam drips and scorches easily, so lining the drip tray with aluminum foil makes cleanup easier. Don't forget to turn them before they burn too much.
Metal skewers get very hot when grilled. Use tongs to turn them, and after plating, tell people not to grab the base of the skewer with bare hands.
Fresh Off the Grill, to the Braai Table
Sosaties are best eaten warm, fresh off the grill. At a braai table, pap (a porridge of cornmeal), salads, and bread are laid out beside the grilled meat, and everyone takes what they like. At any table, white rice, buttered rice, and a green salad pair well with the sweet-and-sour curry flavor.
Gray says that when she serves sosaties at home, she adds a glass of the peppermint liqueur known in South Africa as a "Springbokkie." A well-chilled beer, or a light red wine to match the sweetness of apricot, also goes well.
Among other South African dishes, chakalaka, a side of vegetables simmered with spices, is a braai staple. Eaten alongside bobotie, a curry-flavored baked dish born in the Cape Malay kitchen, it shows well how South African seasoning pairs sweetness and spice. Potjiekos, stewed in a three-legged pot, is also a dish cooked around an outdoor fire.
FAQ
Can I marinate for a shorter time?
Marinate at least 3 hours. With less time, the marinade's flavor reaches only the surface of the meat, and the unity of sweetness and spice is harder to achieve. Marinating the night before and grilling the next day is the easiest approach.
I don't like the smell of lamb.
You can make it with beef round, pork shoulder, or chicken thighs instead. Pork and beef sosaties are also common in South Africa. If you use chicken, heat reaches the center less easily, so be sure to confirm the center temperature with a thermometer.
Can I use bamboo skewers?
Yes. If you use bamboo skewers, soak them in water about 30 minutes first so they don't burn. Metal skewers conduct heat from the inside as well, so they cook a little faster than bamboo.
What if I want it spicy?
Basic sosaties are a dish for enjoying sweetness and aroma more than heat. If you want heat, add a little chili flakes to the marinade or use a hot curry powder.
Can I store them marinated?
Keep the marinated ingredients in the refrigerator, and after marinating overnight, grill them the next day. Let grilled sosaties cool slightly, refrigerate, and finish them soon. When reheating, warm them through in a frying pan.
Are there ingredients to watch for allergies?
Some Worcestershire sauces and curry powders use wheat or soy. If you have an allergy, check the ingredient labels before using them.
Sources
- The Splendid Table, “Lamb Sosaties with Apricots, Bay & Onion” (from Dale Gray, South of Somewhere). Published 20 September 2023. Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2023/09/20/lamb-sosaties-with-apricots-bay-onion
- Wikipedia, “Sosatie.” Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosatie
- Barbecue Bible, “South African Shish Kebabs (Sosaties).” Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://barbecuebible.com/recipe/south-african-shish-kebabs-sosaties/
- District Six Museum, “About the District Six Museum.” Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://www.districtsix.co.za/about-the-district-six-museum/
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, “Preventing Campylobacter food poisoning (Q&A)” (in Japanese). Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/shokuhin/syokuchu/campylobacterqa.html
