Sesotho potjiekos recipe

Meat and vegetables stacked in layers in a three-legged iron pot over coals and never stirred, so each layer steams in its own juices instead of turning into stew.

4 hours and 15 minuteshard10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 1000 g mutton on the bone
• 1 onion
• 3 carrots
• 4 potatoes
• 200 g green beans
• 1 cabbage
• 250 ml stock
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

How to make Sesotho potjiekos

1. Light a small wood or charcoal fire and let it burn down to steady low coals; the potjie sits on its three legs over them, never over flames.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot and brown 1 kg of mutton on the bone in batches, about 15 minutes.
3. Return all the meat, scatter 1 sliced onion over it and pour in only 250 ml of stock; potjiekos steams, it does not boil, so more liquid would ruin it.
4. Put the lid on and leave the meat 2 hours on low coals without stirring once.
5. Now lay the vegetables in flat layers on top of the meat, in this order: 3 sliced carrots, 4 quartered potatoes, 200 g of green beans, then a quarter cabbage in wedges. Do not mix them in.
6. Season the top layer with 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of black pepper, close the lid and cook 1 hour more, still without stirring.
7. Lift the lid only to check the pot is not dry; if it is, run a splash of stock down the side rather than over the top.
8. Serve by digging a spoon straight down through all the layers onto each plate, with papa or bread.

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