Beef Potjie and potjie event

You might remember from a previous post where I prepared a springbok potjie. Today is also a potjie recipe but it is very easy. What I would like to convey in addition to the meal recipe is an event "recipe". The event in this case is a potjie event.

As with most of my posts this begins with a little rant. I remember my mom going through a lot of effort and stress preparing for the arrival of guests for a meal and/or stay over. Once the guest arrived the entire time would be lots of fun and some of my best memories are from those occasions. In a way it feeds the notion great reward comes with hard work. I recently witnessed this "pre-event stress" and this time tried to argue that all this effort was unnecessary. The general reply was "what would people think off me". This response is also a core problem with people hitting the gym and starving themselves trying to look "good" based on what people "expect", another rant for another time......the vanity effect.

The point I was making is that generally people visit because they want to experience your company, robust debate, catch up, plan, partake in good fortune (baby, wedding), just have fun etc. You as a person or couple or family already bring the main ingredients of a good time, the snacks or meal which causes the major amount of stress is not even discussed or there is a passing comment, "compliments to the chef" which takes all of 1% of the total face to face/event time. These points can be debated but essentially life is too short to sweat the little stuff. Question, " How many people rave about the meat/salad/décor at a braai/barbeque?"..........huh?............I hope my point is made!

Potjie Event Recipe

• Rule 1: Decide on the fly what to place in the potjie and buy those raw ingredients beforehand eg: beef, carrots, oil, potatoes, chicken etc (Marco-ingredients)
• Rule 2: Start fire when guests arrive. I have attached some pictures below on how I start a fire, its clean and takes advantage of the fire's abilities to spread (bush veld fires is an example, little human intervention), this takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs before the heat is raging.

Step 1: Place charcoal (not briquettes) into braai, place blitz on charcoal (I used a old potjie as my braai stand) 

Step 2: Light blitz

Step 3: Let blitz burn out

Step 4: Place potjie on heat source (The fire will spread over time on its own)

• Rule 3: Prepare Potjie with guests (Refer to recipe below)
• Rule 4: Insert Potjie onto fire (weather raging or not)
• Rule 5: Decide on drinks and/or snacks and go pick it up (Generally I offer, cold water, biltong (Jerky) and nuts, normal snacks I have at home) 
• Rule 6: Sit around and chat, throw a ball (of any shape) with the kids/ friends, jump in the pool or whatever the guests came over for, look at the baby, wedding photos, movies (Lord of the rings marathon with Potjie.....what an idea!!)
• Rule 7: Do not disturb potjie until about 3 to 4 hours in, and check if it ready.
• Rule 8:Dish, Eat, continue conversation and have fun.
• Rule 9: Keep dishes to a minimum, hence I enjoy disposable plates and eat with my hands

I know I call them "RULES" they are more suggestions but this process combines the prep and guest visit into one. Also the other plus side is that your guests do not feel inadequate (Unless they are soulless mother fathers) because of your pre-event prep. It is just loads of fun. On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger
4 Tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
3 cardamom
1 stick cinnamon
1-2kg beef
2 onion
2 tomatoes
4 sprigs tyme and rosemary
Green beans and carrot (This is your choice and depended on space in potjie)
Sprinkle of salt for end

Method:
Liquidise garlic, ginger, 1 Tbsp coconut oil, salt, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon
Marinate beef in paste from above step
Insert 3 Tbsp coconut oil into pot
Insert onions cut into blocks
Insert beef
Liquidise and insert tomatoes
Tie rosemary and type into bunch and insert into pot
Place green beans and carrots
Sprinkle salt at the end
NB: The prep is layered and to not disturb the potjie with spoon in the middle of the cooking time
Cover and place potjie onto fire
Cook for 2-4 hours depending on potjie depth and intensity of fire
Dish and enjoy!

Springbok Ribs Potjie

The Journey towards this recipe is one of my own realization that a whole people, nation or race cannot be judged (something we should not be doing in the first place) based upon the actions of the past, generalizations and just shear stories. Growing up at the back end of apartheid, I did not experience the true brutality for which it is famous but one of the undeniable results is the brush with which we (non-whites) paint Afrikaans people. It was a lesson that was made possible by my parents with religion which was to be respectful of everybody and never be rude. I try as much as possible to live by these tenants. Try being the operative word.

Generally Afrikaans people have a very hard/robust exterior which might easily give the impression of an intolerant, hardhearted nation. Let me be the first to say that it is not true at all.(judge, book, cover comes to mind) I agree that there maybe plugs among them but there are plugs everywhere. These plugs are responsible for demonizing whole nations and we (as a human race) just never learn and commit the same dumbness again and again. (judging and action on stereotypes)

When I moved to our nations capital, away from the close knit world within which I existed in KZN, I think/believe I grew as a person. I met numerous Afrikaans people, some truly amazing individuals and the plugs. I am a Muslim Indian know of truly amazing people and the plugs within my own race and religion. The similarities between nations/peoples/religions is astounding.

Anyhow I was invited by a set of Afrikaans friends to go hunting, they were hospitable for my dietary requirements (halal), did not force alcohol on me, thought me how to use a gun (for the first time) and I shot 1 springbok (I believe it was by fluke). I knew that was it for me, because what am I going to do shooting more animals than what is required for me and my better half. This action also thought me to respect life no matter what it is draped in, both figuratively and literally.

On the evening I experienced one of the best rugby matches ever, Springboks vs England, on Radio 2000, playing in the Kalahari as the sunset and brought on the cold night, with a blazing fire going and we prepared meat and enjoyed each others company. Curiously enough I made another fascinating realization about a Braai or potjie and that it is NOT the act of cooking meat on a fire or making food in a cast iron pot but rather the whole ritual of preparing the fire, snacking, drinking (non-alcoholic for me), interacting (joking, discussing pressing issues, learning) , then preparing the main course and ultimately closing out the event with something sweet. A Braai or Potjie is an entire event centered around food and camaraderie, it is a way to bring togetherness, understanding and peace. For my international readership a Braai is a barbecue.

Maybe that's the solution to world peace, a Braai! Would love to hear a miss world contestant say that, "the key to world peace is a braai."

When I googled game meat recipes, many required the meat to be soaked in alcohol before the marinade is applied. This is done to remove the gamey flavor because not many people can enjoy that sort of flavor. One recipe that I got on the website, allrecipes.com, reported that the meat can be marinated in apple cider (non-alcoholic) with salt and pepper. Since this sort of apple cider is not available in South, I used apple juice. It worked and was nice but this recipe below is a little different and the meat came out really nice and tender.

Ingredients

1 rack of game ribs
5 Tbsp Salt
1 Tbsp pepper
Water to cover ribs

1 red pepper
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 cardamom

Method
Treatment to remove gamey flavor
Soak ribs in water,salt,pepper solution for 2 hours

Prepare marinade
Liquidize all remaining ingredients into paste

Marinate ribs in paste and place in potjie pot (the awesome thing about a potjie is that it more bakes food within the pot than cooking it as if on a stove, and the flavors are remarkable)
Place potjie pot over hot coals (no flame)
Cook for 2-3 hours
Enjoy once meat is tender

You might notice that I had modified an older potjie pot to contain the coals of a fire and concentrate it onto the underside of another potjie (where I cooked the ribs). The modification entailed grinding openings onto the potjie pot to allow for air intake to fuel the flame and allow heat to escape through the top (as heat rises). This is just an idea to make the using of coals more efficient and works wonderfully when camping or at picnics.

I would invite family and friends before I made the marinade and let the camaraderie begin!

Enjoy!!

Soaked meat in water, salt and pepper solution for 2 hours

Liquidize pepper, onion, coconut oil, garlic, salt, turmeric, cardamon and chilli powder into paste

Add marinade to treated ribs and pace in Potjie pot

After the ribs cook in the potjie, cut and enjoy, preferably in a plate because I'm not sure about the effectiveness of washing powders in removing turmeric stains from clothes

Project LOL (The beginning)

Project LOL: The beginning

Over the past couple of years I've grown increasing distrustful of all institutions, universities, health and well being organizations, governments (duh!!), religious fanatics and most of all the media. There is some form of politics that has infested virtually every aspect of daily life both knowingly and unknowingly.

From the time I was growing up my physique was that of the rotund persuasion. I tried in vain to improve my vanity. I tried all sorts of fads, "sound advice" and even ran the comrades ULTRA marathon.....boo ya! but alas I had failed, to improve both my vanity and physical prowess, I completed the comrades twice (just to avoid ambiguity, check out my other blog as proof). One day on a commute to my dead end job, I was listening to the hyper negative radio 702 (which was my pick me up before work...yeish!) and there comes onto radio Dr Tim Jokes (that's how the gym rats would gossip instead of pumping the iron/working out. "Handle your business like a man" still has no meaning. Dr Tim Noakes is who I am referring to in case my rambling is a little to close to South African current affairs).

Since I had run comrades, I obviously had read Lore of Running and these statements were awesome news or maybe me clinging at hope. I had moved beyond my vanity and onto actual improved performance for myself. So I got to the office sent an e-mail and received a reply. (Which famous personality actually replies to e-mails) That got me on my current journey. I devoured knowledge, tested myself and listened to podcasts. This debate is going to continue for awhile but at least there is a debate that has been ignited and in the future better more sound information shall come out. The issue I think is that egos have been bruised and the embarrassment is something many "learned" people cannot cope with right now........maybe they should chuck the pride, just saying.

I hope my dear readers that you read through my rant and lead up for Project LOL, which is short for Live Of Land. This project has been born out of my distrust for supermarket institutions and the entities that back them be it political, religious or well being with some "make no sense" ideology.

The purpose of this project is to put together systems and processes so that I can produce fresh produce from the land I live on. If I had lived in a flat the same shall apply. I hope to take my readers through this journey and by the end of this year, everything shall be in place. I also hope that the information that I shall make FREELY available is useful to anybody who would like to try.

Ideally I would like to visit the supermarket for toilet paper only!!! Its a 2 ply issue.

Things that I have tried on my own, and have been successful:
- Worm farming (Vermicomposting)
- Growing seeds (defies 2nd law of thermodynamics)
- growing plants with light emitting diodes (LEDs)
-making my own yoghurt
-making my own biltong (jerky)

Step 1 of Project LOL: Define the parameters.

• I need to design a green house that incorporates LEDs for my area. I need to use all the pot plants that I have generated over the recent time. I would like to harvest rain water for my plants and use sustainable energy to operate the LED and circulation pumps (irrigations).
• In the future I would like to expand to hydroponics or even aqua-ponics (a little to rich for this year).
• What plants and herbs that shall suit this man made environment. Cycle crops in such a way to ensure fresh produce?

I hope to have consistent Tuesday posts on this topic. I hope you shall find the journey fascinating.

Home made Biltong

Avocado Seedlings

LED grow light panel

Wormfarm and about 2 litres of worm juice (potent compost)

Braai'ed butternut

Figure 1: Braai'ed Butternut

The recipe was born a little out of boredom, mostly me trying to add volume for my weekly feeding of my beloved worms (future blog post related to project LOL, all very cryptic but shall make sense in time, i hope)) and we had to finish our vegetables before our weekly shopping visit to our boeremark. If you are in Pretoria this is a true farmer's market, visit the website www.pretoriaboeremark.co.za .

For the record the "farmers market" in jJohannesburg four-ways is not a FARMERS market. I suggest that this venue is renamed so that it is not so misleading, but then again i suppose its interpretation. Rant....check

Another aside, the last one I hope (that is a little dark), I use my worms for vermicomposting and if you items want some information on vermicomposting check out his website http://edendreaming.org/worm-farming.

This is all very unappetizing talk/write/type?

We had essentially braai'ed (or barbecued for my foreign contingent items) all our meat and the coals were still raging. I prepared this meal and let me state that it was awesome and must be tried. The great thing is that nothing goes to waste.

Ingredients
1 butternut (our butter was medium-ish)
1 onion (I like the flavour of red onions), pick an onion that can fit into the seed area cavity of butternut once peeled.
2 cloves garlic (crushed and thinly sliced)
1 tsp ginger (cut and diced)
1 tsp dried herbs
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried cinnamon

Method

1. Cut the ends and peel butternut
2. When you cut the seed side of butter try to maintain the concave shape of the seed cavity
3. Scoop out the seeds
4. Peel onion and remove layers until the whole onion can be popped into seed cavity (like eyeball in socket)
5. Make 1mm wide x 1mm deep cuts into butternut in whatever pattern you choose (I made the pattern the way you would cut into a leg of lamb)
6. Place as much ginger and garlic as possible into the cuts made in the previous step
7. Dice left over butternut from peeling, onion layers (if any)and combine with left over ginger and garlic, dried herbs, cinnamon and olive oil into a "sauce"
8. Rub "sauce" onto prepared butternut
9. Place in foil (shiny side out)
10. Placed foiled butternut directly onto coals for about an hour
11. Prod the butternut (any thin sharp instrument will do) once in a while to check if it is cooked
12. Remove from coals, remove foil and enjoy!

lekker braai!!

Figure 2: Braai'ed butternut before it is braai'ed

Figure 3: Braai'ed butternut after it has been braai'ed