Butternut bredie potjie
For a No. 3 potjie Feeds 6
• 2T mutton fat or beef lard or vegetable oil • 1,5kg beef shin or stewing lamb/beef • 2 large onions, chopped • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped • 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated • 700g butternut, peeled and chopped • 500g potatoes, peeled and chopped • 300g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped • 1 small red chilli • 4 cardamom pods • 1 stick cinnamon • 1 bay leaf • 1 strip (about the length of your thumb) fresh orange peel • sea salt and black pepper • ¼ cup Van der Hum liqueur or sweet wine • ½ cup boiling water or beef stock • cooked white rice, for serving
Place the pot over coals to heat through. Drop some fat in – when it sizzles the pot is hot enough. Melt all the fat in the pot and brown the meat in batches.
Remove the pot from the heat. Remove the meat, add the onions (they will start cooking in the residual heat) and stir constantly. Replace the lid. Rearrange the coals for low-heat cooking and place the pot back over the coals.
Cook the onions, stirring constantly, until nicely softened and reduced in mass. Add the garlic and ginger for the last minute or two and cook, stirring.
Remove the pot from the coals. Remove the onions. Layer the meat at the bottom of the pot with the butternut, potato and sweet potato on top.
Cut a slit into one side of the chilli. Place the cardamom pods on a board and press
down on them with the face of a knife to crack them. Add both to the pot along with the other aromatics: cinnamon, bay leaf and orange peel. Add a pinch or two of salt and a generous grinding of black pepper. Then put the onions back in.
Mix the Van der Hum into the water or stock and add to the pot. Put the lid on and place the pot over the coals, arranging a few coals around the base of the potjie.
After 30 minutes, lift the lid and check there is steam rising in the pot and that it is simmering. Cook for 2 – 3 hours, keeping an ear to the pot and adding or removing coals to keep the potjie cooking at the same heat and speed.
Once the potjie is done, gently bring the meat up through the vegetables to incorporate all the ingredients. Serve.