5 Marinades to Marinate Over
To make a delicious sosatie, it's important to have the right marinade or sauce whether you are using fruit, meat or vegetables. The marinade adds flavour and tenderises your ingredients, leaving you with irresistibly tasty skewers. A sauce or dip can be used for ingredients that may not need marinating.
Choosing the right marinade seems to be the most challenging decision to make when preparing the perfect skewer so, we have put together five recipes that are perfect for any type of skewer, whether it's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack.
Make sure you have your spice racks, wooden spoons and skewers at the ready because you’ll want to try these out right away.
Skewers Make a Fun Dessert
Desserts DON’T need to be cut out of your diet when trying to eat healthier. We have so many options for healthy treats in our fruit aisles! That being said, while we all enjoy the sweetness that nature has to offer, a sneaky chocolate is usually what we’re looking for in our sugary treats.
Grab your fruits, maybe even a few cut-up pancakes, and let’s whip up a healthy chocolate spread/sauce to indulge those chocolate cravings.
Healthy Chocolate Spread
Foodnetwork.com
Ingredients
250 ml pitted dates
60 ml peanut butter
2 Tbs cocoa powder
1 Tbs honey
Pinch of salt
Method
Place the dates in a bowl of warm water and soak for 30 mins.
Drain the dates, reserving 2 Tbs of date water.
Pour the dates and reserved date water into a food processor and puree until a fine paste is reached.
Add the peanut butter and puree for 30 seconds.
Add the cocoa powder, honey and salt and pulse until combined.
This spread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. For a saucier consistency, reserve more of the date water until it reaches the desired consistency.
Veggies Can Be Saucy Too
Veggies are often overlooked when marinating because they cook to tender quite easily. Most people add herbs and spices, but marinade can take it up a notch in flavour profile:
Vegetable Marinade
Laurafuentes.com
Ingredients
60 ml olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, grated
1 lemon, juiced
5 ml Italian Herbs (thyme, oreganum and basil)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
Place your unassembled vegetables in the marinade and leave it to marinate for, between, 30 minutes – 4 hours.
Beef Up the Sauciness
When whipping up a marinade for red meat, you have to consider both flavour and the marinade’s ability to keep the meat tender. This marinade is versatile on both beef and lamb, leaving the meat saucy, savoury and juicy!
Beef Kebab Marinade
Thepioneerwoman.com
Ingredients
80 ml Balsamic vinegar
80 ml Worcestershire sauce
80 ml olive oil
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
Salt, pepper and chilli flakes to taste.
Method
Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl.
Set aside some of the marinade to use as a glaze while grilling.
Place unassembled ingredients in the bowl and marinate for, between, 1 – 6 hours.
Winner, Winner Chicken Skew-er
The chicken sosatie is the most popular skewer in South Africa. While most of us are firm fans of the sweet curry marinade, here is a creamy, zesty marinade to mix things up a bit:
Chicken Kebab Marinade
Tamingtwins.com
Ingredients
150g plain yoghurt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
2 tsp garlic powder
1 lemon, zest and juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Mix the marinated ingredients well in a large bowl.
Place unassembled ingredients in the bowl and marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. For better results, marinade overnight.
Surf the Flavour Wave
We all need a bit of Omega-3 and a delicious seafood skewer may be just the right way to get it. We’re bringing that sweet curry flavour right over here with a dip that will make your dose of Omega-3 intake that much more exciting:
Surf and Turf Dip
Lecreuset.co.za
Ingredients
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp mustard
1 tsp red chilli paste
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Garam masala
1 tsp sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Mix the mayonnaise, mustard, red chilli paste, Worcestershire sauce, garam masala and sugar in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
First, warm the grill pan over low heat, then oil the grill grooves of the pan with a silicone brush.
Increase the temperature, place the skewers in the pan and grill for about 2-3 minutes.
Reduce the heat and grill for another 2-3 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with the dip.
The only thing left to do is browse our kitchen range and see what you’ll need to help you make these delicious marinades and sauces.