Motswana recipe
How to make Seswaa
All of Botswana; also called loswao in the south
The national dish: beef or goat meat, often from tough cuts such as the neck and legs, simmered for hours with just water and salt until it falls apart, then pounded with a wooden spoon into soft shreds. It is usually cooked by men in a three-legged iron pot for weddings, funerals and Independence Day, and served with bogobe, samp or maize porridge.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg beef on the bone, such as shin, neck or brisket (or goat)
- 1 onion, halved (optional)
- About 2 litres water
- 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
Method
- Put the meat in a large heavy pot, ideally cast iron, add the onion and cover with water.
- Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, then cover and simmer gently for 3 to 4 hours, topping up with hot water, until the meat falls off the bone.
- Lift out the bones and onion, add the salt and let most of the liquid cook away.
- Pound and stir the meat with a sturdy wooden spoon until it breaks into fine shreds, moistening it with a little of the cooking liquid.
- Serve hot with sorghum porridge, maize porridge or samp and beans.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Seswaa uses almost no seasoning beyond salt. The flavour comes from long, slow cooking and the pounding at the end.
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