Oxtail pot and sadza for lunch - a team effort!

Sunday, almost the end of my sister and brother-in-law's visit, was set aside for a collaboration by the guys on an oxtail pot with sadza for lunch. We decided that the "ladies" - and I use the term loosely, could have a bit of a relax. (I am going to get into trouble for that remark!)

Mike started the pot at around 09h00 because oxtail takes at least five hours of simmering to get it tender. Mike coats the meat in flour and Aromat, heats up some cooking oil in the pot and then browns the meat well.

While he was busy I chopped up some onions, green peppers and four cloves of fresh garlic and once the meat was nicely browned Mike removed it from the pot and fried my mixture up until it was just translucent.
Mike then put all of the meat back into the pot and I mixed an oxtail soup powder into a large cup of red wine, into which I crumbled up a beef stock cube. Once this was all stirred up properly we added it to the pot, a half a beer was enough to make sure that the liquid just covered the meat and then it was simmering time.
Purists reading this will scornfully declare that it should be done over a fire! I know this and I used to do it over a fire, but for convenience you just cannot beat gas. We turned the flame right down and just left the pot to simmer, giving it the occasional stir, for the next three hours during which we consumed quite a few of our favourite beverages.

At about the time that Mike added his vegetables it was my turn to start making the sadza, I am actually quite disappointed to see (after posting about this on facebook) that quite a lot of ex Rhodesians turn their noses up at sadza! Sadza was an African staple in Rhodesia as I am sure it still is in Zimbabwe and that is where I learned how to make it, I love it as do both Mike and Loretta and several of my ex Rhodie friends.
I dug out my trusty sadza spoon which is made of Rhodesian teak and which is only used for making sadza, mainly because it is strong enough for the job, regular wooden kitchen spoons break way too easily and this spoon must not be contaminated with any other food! Tradition.
Once a couple of litres of water starts to boil in the pot I start sprinkling the Maize meal in and then the stirring begins, you cannot stop stirring otherwise you end up with lumps. Keep sprinkling and stirring until the mixture starts to thicken and it pulls away cleanly from the side of the pot, even then you keep sprinkling and stirring and try not to let the sweat that drips from your brow drip into the pot! Add some Aromat and keep stirring and now you can taste it to see if you have the mixture right, the idea is that the texture must be stiff enough so that you can roll a small amount into a ball in you hand but it mustn't stick to your hand. It takes a bit of practise!
I jam the spoon under it when I think it is done, turn the heat right down to absolute minimum and let it steam in the pot for a while. By this time Mike's pot was looking and smelling really good. I needed another cold Castle after all of my excersize!
Soon it was time to start dipping small balls of sadza into the gravy! This is heavenly food folks!
We spent a bit of time sopping the delicious gravy up with the sadza and in fact even when Janet decided to dish herself up a plateful she still had to push hands out of the way!
It was a very successful team effort, the guys did a good job and we ate way too much! A couple of glasses of "Black Pearl 2007 Merlot" accompanied the main meal - heaven!
In spite of the fact that it doesn't look like I made much sadza there was quite a bit left over and in the next post I will tell you what we make with it - what a lunch! Cheers.