Seswaa is a simple dish of beef slowly simmered, then pounded with salt and served over corn mush. It was the only Botswanan main dish for which I found a recipe, so I had to make it. Boiling the meat was predictably easy, but pounding it was another matter. The original recipe called for pounding the meat "with a strong wooden spoon" so that the "final product looks like ground beef". Well, I pounded and pounded and asked Mike to pound and pound and the meat looked beaten down but nothing more. It might have been the cut I chose, which had quite a bit of fat, but ultimately the only way I found to break the meat was to shred it. But of course, that resulted in shredded meat, not ground meat.
The key to making this dish taste good is the browning of the meat after you boil it. Make sure you cook it for long enough to achieve a general caramelized effect, and keep stirring so it doesn't overcook. I served the dish with cabbage over a simple cornmeal mush.
Seswaa
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. bone-in beef chuck
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp. oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1 small clove garlic, chopped
Instructions
Cut the beef chuck into large pieces, put in a pot and, cover with water and put on the stove. Cook covered in high heat until it starts bowling, then bring down heat and simmer uncovered until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
Drain the meat, let cool, and then shred. Mix with salt and return to the pot.
Heat the oil in a small frying pan, add the onions and garlic, and fry on medium heat for about 3 minutes.
Add the onion mixture to the meat, mix well, and cook over low heat until the beef is hot and caramelizes, stirring occasionally.
Adapted from a recipe I found online, printed, and then lost the url.