COPPERUmncweba recipe
Umncweba is raw beef cured with salt and vinegar and then air-dried for days, never cooked.
Ingredients
- 1000 g lean beef
- 125 ml vinegar
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
How to make Umncweba
- Cut 1 kg of lean beef (silverside or topside) with the grain into strips about 2.5 cm thick.
- Toast 2 tbsp of coriander seeds lightly in a dry pan, crush them coarsely and mix with 2 tbsp of coarse salt, 1 tbsp of roughly ground black pepper and 1 tbsp of brown sugar.
- Dip the strips in 125 ml of vinegar, drain them, then rub the spice mix well into every side.
- Leave the meat in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, then pour off the liquid it has released.
- Hang the strips from hooks or string in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place, without touching each other. Do not use heat: heat-dried meat is jerky, not umncweba.
- Let it air-dry for several days (count about 5 days for 2.5 cm strips, longer in humid air) until dark and firm outside.
- Slice thinly to serve.
What is Umncweba?
Umncweba is a traditional dish from Eswatini, and takes about 6 days and 1 hour from start to finish. It is built around lean beef and vinegar. The recipe below uses 6 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Umncweba take?
At 8670 minutes it is slower than 100% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 7 steps.
Any tips for making Umncweba?
Dry the cured strips in cool, moving air without any heat, hanging them apart so they never touch.
How Umncweba compares
At 6 days and 1 hour, Umncweba is the longest of the 586 dishes Copper documents. Lean beef appears in no other dish in the atlas.
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on vinegar, from other countries.
- Naengmyeon 🇰🇵 North Korea
- Shuwa 🇴🇲 Oman
- Borscht 🇷🇺 Russian Federation
Copper documents Eswatini alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.