African Wild Hog Stew – Potjiekos
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This recipe finds its inspiration from a South African warthog potjie recipe. Potjiekos is translated to mean, “small-pot food.” This method of cooking became popular in Southern Africa with the arrival of the Dutch settlers. The Potjie was a commonly used cooking vessel, made of cast iron with three legs. As people traveled throughout the wilderness, they would shoot animals for food and use the potjie to prepare evening stews commonly made up of venison, warthog, rabbit, and other tasty animals.
I did not have the traditional potjie on hand so I used my dutch oven in the oven to prepare this meal. You could easily prepare this dish in a slow cooker or even over the open fire. I always keep the shanks of animals, but if you need, you can always use stew meat or cut up roasts to make this dish.
For seasoning, they would use a wide variety of flavors. In this dish, I used a spice blend from northern Africa to season the stew. Duqqa or dukkah is a nut and herb seasoning commonly found in Egyptian and Middle Eastern cuisine. This mixture can add great flavor to a variety of wild game so be sure to save the excess from this recipe.
Serving Size: 4-6
Time to make: 3-4 hours
Equipment: Dutch Oven or Potjie, spice grinder
Also work with: Any Wild Game Shanks, Stew Meat, or Cut up Roasts
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African Wild Hog Stew – Potjiekos
Course: DinnerCuisine: African, South African, EgyptianDifficulty: Medium6
servings30
minutes4
hoursIngredients
- For the Duqqa Spice
1 Tbsp chopped hazelnuts
1 Tbsp chopped almonds
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper seeds
1/2 tsp salt
- For the Stew
2 Tbsp oil
4 wild pork shanks (sub venison shanks)
Salt and pepper
¼ lbs pork chorizo
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup of fresh chopped pumpkin
4 potatoes peeled and quartered
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
4 Tbsp duqqa spice (see above)
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1.5 cups of red wine
4 cup of wild game stock
2 Tbsp honey
4 dried apricots
Preparation
- For the Duqqa Spice
- Bring a small pan over medium heat.
- Add all the spices and stir continuously for 2-5 minutes or until the spices begin to toast.
- Use a coffee grinder, food processor, or mortar and pestle to grind the spices into a fine powder.
- Set aside for use later.
- For the Stew
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Bring a dutch oven to medium high heat on the stove top.
- Amply season the pork shanks with salt and pepper. Add the oil to dutch oven and let it come to heat.
- Once hot, sear each side of the shanks until lightly brown. Remove and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and add the chorizo. Cook until brown.
- Stir in the carrots, onions, celery, pumpkin, potato, leek, garlic and allow to cook for 2-5 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent.
- Add the duqqa spice, cumin, coriander, thyme, and rosemary.
- Then stir in the red wine, stock, honey, and apricots. Mix well.
- Add the shanks to the top of the stew.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and then place in the oven.
- Cook for 3-4 hours or until the shanks are fork tender.
- Remove from the oven and serve.
