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Mogatla (Oxtail Casserole)

Mogatla (Oxtail Casserole) is a traditional Botswanan recipe for a classic slow-cooked stew of oxtail in a tomato, onion and garlic base flavoured with Maggi cubes. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Botswanan version of: Oxtail Casserole (Mogatla).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

150 minutes

Total Time:

170 minutes

Serves:

6

Rating:

Tags : Beef RecipesVegetable RecipesBotswana Recipes

This recipe comes from my wife's collection of Southern African dishes. She is Nigerian originally, but has lived in Namibia and Botswana. I'm now beginning to raid her recipe collection to extend this site. Cattle are very important to the economy of Botswana and many people still measure wealth in terms of the size of their herd. Obviously cattle are sold for meat and the best cuts get the best prices. This means that, traditionally, what is left over was what the family ate. Still, the tougher the meat and the more work it does the more flavour it has and it makes a tasty dish as long as it's cooked slowly.

Ingredients:

1 small oxtail, jointed
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 Maggi beef cube (or beef stock cube)
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp cooking oil
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a large casserole dish. Add the oxtail pieces and fry until browned all over. Remove the meat with tongs and set aside. Now add the onions to the oil remaining in the pot and fry for about 6 minutes, or until soft but not coloured.

Add the tomatoes, garlic and tomato purée to the pan and stir to mix. Return the oxtail pieces to the pot, crumble in the stock cube and pour in just enough water to come level with the top of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cover the pot and cook very gently for about 150 minutes, or until the meat is tender.

Season to taste with salt and freshly-ground black pepper. Serve hot, accompanied by Bogobe (porridge). For a more substantial meal you can add Matlebekwane (dumplings) about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve the stew.