Habe a potjie.....now what?

[Tiny]

Hi Folks,
I was given a potjie, pronounced poikee for my birthday, I liked the idea of owning a minuture witches cauldron.

Now I have one I am at a complete loss as to what to do with it, looking online most of the recipes of south African origin sound well rank. I am not a fruit and savoury man and most seem to have you emptying the fruit basket into a stew.

This has also challenged me as what it seems best designed for is hearty stews, curries or chillis, all good and nourishing but hardly summer fare.

So do any of you out in bbqs world own one and if yes what do you do with it?

Cheers
Tiny

[keith157]

Sorry Tiny the only thing I know to do with them is stews & chilli, I've never tried bobotie as I don't like curry. There is no reason you couldn't do a fantastic crumble in one though, loads & loads of fruit with a crumble top. Dr Sweetsmoke used to use a large Dutch Oven on his smoker to do gumbo etc. so basically the world is your bi-valve

Luckily we have a few South African Braai Masters who would no doubt be willing to help.

[PeanutZA]

Rank?

Burn in flames my good man!

[keith157]

Maybe not everyone likes the idea of floating an omelette on top of a curry

[PeanutZA]

Lol!

You should try it. I would really like your honest opinion on it.

Edit: Tiny, I understand your comment on summer fare. However as a south African I have enjoyed a number of potjies in weather easily described as British summer.

My experience with them as been long cooks for tough meats, most fun was guineafowl... The toughest bastard of them all. Or used when camping to create a chunky thick stew. As I have described before a braai is more than the cook - its the event around the fire. A potjie is a great focus point of this event with lots of staying power.

If you would like I can ask a friend for his ox tail potjie recipe, on of the best I have had.

I have none of my own as it is not something I have mastered yet...due to my inability to just leave it alone. I got hungey and stirred my uncles potjie when I was growing up, turning a 5 hour carefully layered masterpiece into a soup. Now that was indeed rank.

On topic of sweet and savoury - do you not enjoy cheese and fruit?

[Gary Morris]

Why not roast meat, jacket spuds in there, or anything else you could cook on / in a bbq useing indirect heat.
Can't see anything wrong with a nice Ruby Murray or use it like a tandoori oven. Nagis kebabs Mmmmmmm...

[slatts]

What could be better than a slow cooked curry in any weather with or without an omelette on top.

Sounds like a great bit of kit, a nice slow cooked sausage casserole with chorizo with spuds etc.

Im nowhere near skilled enough to leave the smoker to start learning something else yet and to be honest ive never heard of it before but hopefully it could be my next challenge. I'd love to cook a curry from scratch in a potjie.

[keith157]

Slatts, in its basic form think Dutch Oven on legs
A nice fruit crumble would be nice.

[Smoky Joe]

Come on Guys. My wife is from South Africa and a potjie is amazing but if that is not your thing turn to old school American cowboy cooking. Boston Beans or you could do a bread in the Potjie. Don't think of it as just a South African pot. Think about what is call any where else in the world such as Dutch Oven, Caldron etc.
and see what they have to offer
Gav

[slatts]

I haven't had a crumble for years!!!

I made my first apple cobbler last night, in the oven, and loved it although it might not be good for the diet, i'm taking the "full of fruit" argument with me