(The fact that it’s also the home of the Liverpool Supporter’s Club of South Africa doesn’t hurt, obviously.)

The basic ingredients are:
(1) Rump/fillet steak
(2) Portuguese black olives (or calamata)
(3) Red peri peri chilli peppers
(4) Flour
(5) Garlic
(6) Bay leaves
(7) Salt/pepper
(8) Obcene amounts of red wine
(9) Copious amounts of olive oil

Season the meat (rump cut in 2cmx2cm cubes)with a bit of salt and pepper (I like the idea of marinading the meat overnight). Cut a large onion into very small pieces and caramalise using olive oil. When the onions are almost ready add a generous amount of red peri peri peppers roughly chopped as well as roughly chopped crushed garlic. Fry for another minute or two. It is important to get the onions nice and soft.

Next remove the vegetables you add a little more olive oil (we don’t use butter as its not very tradditional) and seal the meat on a high tempertature after coating them in flour. By now the pan should be getting bits of burnt flour stuck to the bottom – leave it there for colour. When the meat is sealed remove and place in a bowel to collect the juices.

Add the vegetables back to the same pan and deglaze with a cup of red wine. Then once simmering add the meat/juices and more red wine until the meat is almost covered (I can easily use a bottle). Finally add a few bayleaves and a cup of pitted calamata olives (or portuguese ones if you prefer but I like calamata).

Then the trick is to let it simmer on very low heat for at least 2 hours. This is a stew, the meat is NOT supposed to be rare. You need to check it every 10 minutes or so to make sure its not sticking and add little bits of wine/water as neccesary.

When finished it should have a GENEROUS amount of sauce almost covering all the meat. The sauce should be a dark purple colour, smooth and quite thick. You should see the red chilli pieces here and there and the black olives. The meat should be VERY tender.

Serve with peasant bread and redwine. South Africans that visited Mocambique during the days when it was a Portiguese colony used to enjoy it over chips with ice cold beer.

Enjoy.