Potjiekos 101

In South Africa a braai (and please note how I say braai and not barbecue as barbecue is a chips flavour) is as part of the nation's heritage as ice is part of the North Pole.  In my opinion a braai is also just a proper braai when you start with burning wood to create coals.  But that is a discussion for a whole other day.  Something that is very much part of the braai culture is potjiekos.  Potjiekos literally translates as "small pot food" and is a stew prepared outdoors and traditionally cooked in a round, three-legged cast iron pot.  

 

When the Dutch first came to the Cape they brought with them their ways of cooking food in heavy cast iron pots. These pots would hang from the kitchen hearth above the fire and was used to cook and heat water. The black people of South Africa also used cast iron pots to cook in, something they learned from Middle Eastern traders and later Portuguese colonists.

 

During the Great Trek in the 1800's the Voortrekkers hung their pots from their wagons and when they got to their over night stops they would put the pots straight onto the fire to cook or heat their food in. The beauty of cast iron pots is that they are able to retain heat well and only a few coals are needed to keep the food simmering for hours as the heat and steam doesn't escape from the lid. 

  

This post isn't about the origins about potjiekos though but rather to show you more about making a potjie and also what a potjiekos competition is.  The pictures were taken at a potjiekos competition I was part of a little while ago. A potjiekos competition is something like Ultimate Braaimaster or Master Chef where groups of people prepare meals in potjies to be judged. In this case its just not for television but rather done during festive weekends and often in plattelandse dorpies. Ok, not just little towns as you get to see it in the cities as well.



The most popular pot to use is the no 3 pot which makes enough for about 4 to 6 people to eat from. and what you make with it is only limited by your own imagination. Let me explain why. Well, you can make just about anything in the pot. I normally have a small pot on the side in which I make chicken livers while another favorite is making pot bread to eat with the potjiekos. The potjiekos itself range from meat potjies to vegetable, seafood to chicken and pasta to desserts.

 

The way to make your potjiekos is to start off with some oil in the bottom of your pot.  Remember how Shrek said that ogres have layers like onions? Well, potjiekos is also made up of layers.  You start off with your meat in the bottom of the pot, browning it on both side to seal in the flavour.  Cook the meat for a little while longer and then add the onions followed by the vegetables which get placed in the order it takes them to be cooked.  Start off with potato and carrots followed by pumpkin, mushroom, peas and tomatoes right at the top.  This is obviously just a suggestion as you add whatever tickles your fancy.  Some people add their sauce or wine straight after their meat.  I like to add mine after the veg.  A watery potjie is never good so don't add to much water.  Importantly, and this is the main difference between a potjie and a stew, don't stir until right at the end.

 

One of the best parts of being at a potjiekos competition is taking a walk around past the competitiors to see what they are preparing and to get some ideas for your own future creations.  The competition in question was at the Montagu Caravan Park in the Western Cape and there were probably about 20 entries with a huge veriety of pots and side dishes on offer.

 



The judges really had their jobs cut out for them moving from pot to pot tasting everything, taking notes and deliberating.  Even though there were some outstanding dishes there could only be one winner.  

The lamb shank pot close to where I was sitting smelled and looked outstanding but eventually it had to bend the knee to a couple of guys from the West Coast with their Abelone (yes they had a permit for it) pot and it's side dishes which included crayfish tails.  Yum yum yum...  South African cultural food at it's best.

I am an African

I am an African.  My ancestors may have come from Europe in the late 1600's but that doesn't mean I still have links with that continent.  My parents were born in Africa and so was my grandparents and great grandparents and so I can go on.  I am of the African soil and is as much an African as any other person who lives on this continent.  In 1996, Thabo Mbeki, then vice president of South Africa under Nelson Mandela, did a speech in parliament on the occasion of the passing of the new Constitution of South Africa.  The speech was called I am an Africa.  SA Tourism used part of the speech in a promotional video and every time I see it I get quiet, contemplate and realise just once again that, even though I am white, I truly am an African. 

  

 

Earlier in the week I was invited to a musical at Diaz Primary School in Algoa Park here in Port Elizabeth.  The play was called I am an African.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect but went with an open mind.  I was blown away!  The 1 1/2 hour production consisted of nearly 200 kids and told the story of South Africa's democracy.  Starting with Mandela's arrest the storyline includes the Soweto uprising, Mandela's release, inauguration and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, SA hosting and winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup and the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  The kids threw everything into it and I have to highlight at least one boy and one girl with exceptional singing talents.  The school is currently trying to get a spot at a theatre in the city to expose the play to more people and I really hope that they get the support (both financially and in audience numbers) they need to pull it off successfully.

 

 

Walkie Talkies

In yesterday's post on the corner butcher in the township I mentioned chicken heads and feet.  The heads and feet, referred to as walkie talkies, is a township delicacy and can be bought from the ladies selling chickens.  The chickens are sold live or plucked (as in the picture).  Once the chicken have been slaughtered and plucked by the ladies they are sold very much like you would buy them in the shop with the only difference being that they are freshly slaughtered with the innards still in them and not in a little bag. 

The heads and feet are sold separately and not along with the rest of the chicken and when you want to buy them just ask for walkie talkies.

Your friendly corner township butcher

There is always something new and interesting to see around the next corner for somebody from the suburbs when visiting a township.  This is even more so the case when you have a camera in hand and looking for those unusual photos to post.  Although there are many of these around the townships, I have a particular butcher / take-away that I like to pop by (to look, not to buy from) when I'm visiting the Red Location Museum.  Just down the road from the museum a couple of pots are cooking away in anticipation of the lunch time or going home crowd to come by and purchase a meal.  The contents of the pots range from chicken pieces and chicken heads & feet to cow liver and offal.

As you walk around the corner you will find the butcher shop's "display window".  It seems that the meat (or offal, fat, liver, etc) doesn't get sold by weight, but rather by quantity with the meat being wrapped in newspaper for you to take with you.  We asked the lady if we could look inside...

... and this is what we saw.  The butcher hacking away at a cow's head trying to split it open, I imagine to try and get to the brain.  I know that half a sheep head with the brain in it (called smileys) is a township delicacy, so my guess is that its the same with half a cow's head. 

Traditional healer ceremony

Life has a tendency to throw little surprises your way every now and then.  I was accompanying a journalist from Argentina around Port Elizabeth for five days and as we were walking along Shark Rock Pier at Hobie Beach I spotted a couple of people next to the pier on the water's edge performing some kind of ceremony.

We approached and respectfully waited for them to finish before we asked them what they were doing.  They were traditional Xhosa healers performing a ceremony whereby they talk to God and their ancestors.  The Xhosa are Christens, but they also believe in their ancestors and that they ancestors watch over them as well.  Even though they go to church on Sundays they also come to the ocean at times to connect with God and the ancestors without the congregation around them.  During the ceremony they also throw beads and coins into the ocean as offerings to their ancestors while asking for their blessings.

The senior traditional healer leading the ceremony was a very friendly lady called Nombolelo.  She was more than willing to explain to us what they were doing as well as to pose for a photograph.