Ladies, get comfortable with your roots and make a potjie! Stun your family with your cooking-in-the-wild prowess! What is great about cooking on fire is you can control the heat with the coals, as long as you check up on the pot often enough to ensure it doesn’t burn and have the veggies cook through.

When we were kids, my cousins and I thought potjiekos took a whole day, but that was because the daddies made it a “kuierpot”! 

Depending on the meat you’re cooking (lamb neck is tougher and more sinewy than lamb knuckle) this potjie will take you around 3 hours, which gives you enough time to prep the veggies and sides, have a ball with the kiddies and entertain.

Ingredients:

750g lamb stew cuts or lamb knuckle

Quarter cup of Flour

Salt & lots of freshly cracked black Pepper to taste

1 tbsp Smoked paprika

2 tbsp Canola oil

One Onion, sliced in thin slivers

One Green Pepper, sliced in thin slivers

1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce

2 Bay Leaves

1 tbsp Tomato paste

Half a tsp of Sugar

Small bunch of Thyme

2 cups of Chicken Stock

Any veggies – Carrots, Potatoes, Cabbage, Sweetcorn, Baby Marrows, Mushrooms

Slurry of Cornstarch & water

To serve:

Cooked pearl barley or rice

A bushel of chopped Parsley to garnish

Method:

Make a fire :). Once your fire has burned out and while the coals are still hot, put the pot on the fire. Dust the lamb with flour and season to taste. Pour the oil into the pot. 

Once the oil is hot, sautée the onion and peppers.  Once the onions are translucent, brown the meat in the pot with the onions. Splash on the worchestershire sauce, add in the bay leaves, tomato paste and sugar. Pour in the stock and thyme. Cook for 1 hour. Add the carrots and cabbage and cook for 45 minutes thereafter. Add the potatoes and cook for 45 minutes. Add in the sweetcorn, baby marrows and mushrooms, cook for 30 more minutes and then your meat should be tender. 

Serve to incredibly impressed loved ones and ENJOY!