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Serobe
Serobe: Botswana's finely chopped boiled tripe and offal for weddings and funerals
At a Tswana wedding or a funeral gathering, the men tending the three-legged pots will make serobe from the insides of the slaughtered goat or ox while the seswaa cooks alongside, and it is served first to the elders. Tripe, heart and liver are boiled until tender, chopped very fine and seasoned simply with salt, onion and a little of the rich broth, so it comes out soft, chewy in places and deeply savoury. Eat it with bogobe, pap or samp and a spoonful of morogo. Buy dressed (cleaned and scalded) tripe from a butcher, and cook everything right through. Chef's tip: chopping it fine by hand is the whole point; a food processor turns it into paste, so take your time with a heavy knife.
- Total time
- 180 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ lb dressed beef tripecleaned and scalded by the butcher, rinsed well
- 14 oz beef hearttrimmed of hard fat and tubes, cut in large chunks
- 10 ½ oz beef livermembranes removed, cut in 3 cm pieces
- 12 ½ cups water
- 2 onions1 quartered, 1 finely chopped
- 2 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Rinse the 2 ¼ lb dressed beef tripe again under cold running water and cut it into large pieces.
Step 2: Put the tripe and 14 oz beef heart in a large pot with the 12 ½ cups water, the quartered 1 onions, 2 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons of the 2 tsp salt. Bring to the boil over a high heat and skim off the scum.
10 minStep 3: Cover and simmer gently, topping up with boiling water so the meat stays covered, until the tripe is tender enough to cut easily with a spoon edge and the heart is firm and brown all through.
130 minStep 4: Add the 10 ½ oz beef liver for the last stretch and simmer until it is cooked through with no pink in the middle when you cut a piece.
15 minStep 5: Lift out all the meat and keep 300 ml of the broth. Let the meat cool until you can handle it.
10 minStep 6: On a board, chop the tripe, heart and liver very finely with a heavy knife, working through them until the pieces are the size of grains of rice.
Step 7: Heat the 1 tbsp sunflower oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and soften the chopped 1 onions until golden.
6 minStep 8: Add the chopped meat and the reserved broth and stir over a medium heat until hot through, steaming and just moist, not soupy. Season with the 1 tsp ground black pepper and the rest of the ½ tsp salt and serve hot.
6 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 270 kcal
- Protein
- 36 g
- Carbs
- 4 g
- Fat
- 12 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does serobe take?
- About 180 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 160 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of bay leaves?
- Leave it out, or a pinch of dried thyme (it's a background flavour).
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