Potjiekos without the potjie

I previously posted about a potjie, which is a South African dutch oven, and is used to make potjiekos, which is South African stew.

It's actually very similar to American stew, just with different seasonings.

Of course if you don't have a potjie, you can still cook a potjiekos in a regular cast iron pot.

There are a ton of potjiekos recipes here.

Here's what I'm making tonight:

Cut up chicken breast meat. Brown it in the pot in olive oil. Add black pepper, sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder (I put those two in everything, whether the recipe calls for it or not), allspice, thyme, bay leaves, and "chutney."*

*I didn't have real chutney, so I mixed apricot jam and worcetershire sauce, which is a substitute.

Add mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, a little chicken broth. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer.

There are many potjiekos recipes; This one had more easily obtainable ingredients. Many recipes call for mutton or lamb.

Noticeably missing from this recipe was onions and garlic-- the powders were my own addition.

I thought maybe potjiekos didn't include onions and garlic, but I found recipes that do.

Also, the recipes you'll find contain metric measurements, which are confusing. I just threw stuff in without measuring.