At Djibouti-ville's port-side grills, French brochette form meets Somali, Afar and Yemeni cooking: cubes of goat or young lamb are marinated with cumin-heavy xawaash-style spice and grilled over charcoal, served with laxoox flatbread or French fries in a legacy of the colonial garrison town. Similar Italian-inflected grilled-meat skewers turn up in Eritrea's Asmara bars, marking the Red Sea corridor's shared kebab habit.
Also known as brochettes djiboutiennes, brochettes de chèvre, Red Sea brochettes.
Ingredients
- 700 g goat or young lamb leg, 3 cm cubes
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 0.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp chili powder or 2 minced green chilies
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1.5 tsp salt
- laxoox flatbread or French fries, to serve
- for the chilli sauce: 2 green chilies, a handful of coriander, 1 garlic clove, 0.5 tsp cumin, 2 tbsp oil
- a simple tomato-onion salad, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Blend the cumin, cardamom, chili, garlic, oil and salt and slather over the goat; marinate 3 hours — the spicing sits where Somali, Afar and Yemeni kitchens meet.
- 2
Pound the chilli sauce ingredients into a rough green heat.
- 3
Skewer and grill over glowing charcoal 10-12 minutes, basting with oil and lemon as you quarter-turn so every face takes color at the port-side pace.
- 4
Rest briefly while the laxoox warms at the grill's edge, or while the fries finish.
- 5
Serve the brochettes with laxoox or French fries, the chilli sauce on the side and the tomato-onion salad.
Pro tip: Cardamom is the tell of Djibouti-ville's grills; grind it fresh from pods, since pre-ground loses the perfume before the meat ever meets it.
Where Djiboutian brochettes come from
French fries beside a cumin-spiced goat skewer put Djibouti's colonial past and its Somali, Afar and Yemeni cooking on one plate.
Cumin, cardamom and fries at Djibouti's port-side grills
Spice does the talking here. Goat or young lamb in three-centimetre cubes sits for several hours in a wet xawaash-style paste heavy on cumin, with cardamom and chilli, which makes it far more heavily seasoned than the salt-and-smoke goat of Brochettes (East African). Qotban also leans on cumin, yet pairs it with sweet paprika on smaller lamb cubes flash-grilled in minutes. Djibouti's skewers take a moderate charcoal fire instead and are basted with oil and lemon as they turn. To serve, expect laxoox flatbread or French fries, a chilli sauce and a tomato-onion salad.
Compare: Brochettes (East African) · Qotban (Moroccan Lamb Brochettes)
How Djiboutian brochettes are cooked
The marinade is a wet paste of xawaash-style spice with garlic, a little oil and salt — heavier on cumin than the Somali blend and closer to a Yemeni hawaij in emphasis. It is applied for several hours, which suits goat.
Grilling is over charcoal at moderate heat. Goat is lean and worked and needs the time; young lamb is quicker. The port-side grills work continuously and the skewers are basted occasionally with oil and lemon, which is the French inflection on an otherwise Horn of Africa method.
Ingredients and shopping
Goat or young lamb in three-centimetre cubes with fat included. Goat is the more common and the more characteristic. A xawaash-style blend heavy on cumin and cardamom, with chilli for heat; a full xawaash also carries coriander, black pepper and a little cinnamon.
Garlic, oil, lemon. Laxoox (the fermented flatbread also called canjeero, a thinner cousin of Ethiopian injera) or French fries. A chilli sauce on the side, and often a simple tomato-onion salad.
How Djiboutian brochettes are served
With laxoox or fries, a chilli sauce and a tomato-onion salad, at a port-side grill in the evening. Sweet tea afterwards. It is casual and social, and the mixed-heritage plate is the point rather than an oddity.
Common mistakes
Grilling goat fast
It is lean and worked. Moderate coals and a longer cook with turning.
Under-cumining
The Djiboutian blend leans heavier on cumin than the Somali one. It is the local emphasis.
Skipping the basting
Oil and lemon brushed on during the cook is the French inflection and it keeps lean goat from drying.
Serving it without the bread or fries
Both are standard and both are part of the dish's colonial-and-local character.
Djiboutian brochettes: questions and answers
What is laxoox?
The Djiboutian and Somali fermented flatbread, related to Ethiopian injera, used to scoop grilled meat.
Why fries with a goat skewer?
A legacy of Djibouti's history as a French garrison town. The mixed plate reflects the city's Somali, Afar, Yemeni and French layers.
What meat is used?
Goat most commonly, or young lamb. Goat is lean and needs a longer, gentler cook.
Sources and further reading
- Djiboutian cuisine — Wikipedia
- Cuisine djiboutienne — Wikipedia (French)
- Exploring the Food in Djibouti, Africa — Real Food Traveler
