Chef´s Choice – South African Recipes
Chicken Curry Potjie
Coming back from a marvelous trip to the Cape Provinces of South Africa and having enjoyed their wonderful cuisine, I want to share some recipes from this part of the world with my readers. Enjoy and have fun while cooking.
The cuisine of South Africa can be generalized as:
Cookery practiced by indigenous people of Africa such as the Sotho- and Nguni-speaking people.
Cookery that emerged from several waves of colonisation and immigration introduced during the colonial period by white European people of Dutch (since 1652), German, French, Italian, Greek and British (since 1805~1820) descent and their Indo-Asian slaves or servants – this includes the cuisine of the so-called Cape Malay people, which has many characteristics of Indonesia and cooking styles from neighboring colonial cultures such as Portuguese Mozambique.
Ingredients
1 kg skinless chicken thighs or breasts- 3 medium onions, grated
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 3 medium tomatoes, skinned
- 1 packet/tin tomato paste
- 2 tsps Indian Curry spice mix (e.g. Masala)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 tspn fennel
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 1 tspn salt
- 1 tspn sugar
- 500 ml dry red wine
- 3 large potatoes, cut in half
Preparation
Sauté your onions, carrots and garlic in a large sauce pan until soft, add the spices and let simmer for a couple of minutes.
Add tomatoes and tomato paste together with some red wine – simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add chicken pieces and potatoes with a little more red wine. Simmer covered on a low heat for about 45 minutes, checking the liquid level regularly, adding more red wine if necessary.
About 15 minutes before the potjie gets ready add sugar to taste.
Serve on a bed of cooked rice.
