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Makes: 1 full no. 6 flat-bottomed potjie
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: about 2 hours
• 30ml olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• ±2 red chillies, chopped
• 5ml chilli powder or 2 dried chillies, chopped
• 5ml each finely ground coriander, cumin and dried oregano
• 2 cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 each red and green peppers, cut into strips
• 1kg beef mince
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 250ml stock or beer
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 40ml tomato paste
• 2 blocks dark chocolate
• 2 x 400g tins kidney beans
Mealie bread (Nigella’s with a twist)
• 5ml salt
• 650g mealie meal
• 60ml cake flour
• 30ml baking powder
• pinch each cinnamon and nutmeg
• 750ml buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 30ml honey
• 20ml oil
• 1 tin corn kernels, drained
• 150g mature cheddar, coarsely grated
1 Heat the oil in the potjie over moderate coals and stir-fry the onions and garlic until soft. Then add the chillies, chilli powder and spices and mix. Next, stir in the peppers and mince, breaking up the meat as you brown it. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about an hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2 For the topping Mix the salt, mealie meal, cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Beat the buttermilk, eggs, honey and oil in a jug, and then stir this into the dry ingredients along with the corn kernels. Remove the bay leaf from the potjie and spoon the mealie bread mixture on top as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the cheese over and then cover.
3 Now spread coals on the lid and ‘bake’ the crust for about 30 minutes; it’s important to keep topping the lid with fresh coals to maintain the heat. Insert a cake tester to ensure the crust is done. Then allow the potjie to rest for 5 minutes before serving with avocado, sour cream and fresh coriander.
