Potjie No: 3
Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1 octopus
10 alikreukels
18 white mussels
18 black mussels
2 crayfish
1 kg musselcracker or yellowtail
2 onions, sliced
15 ml cooking oil or olive oil
250 ml uncooked rice
5 ml grated lemon rind
30 ml fresh dill or 10 ml dried fish stock
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped fresh parsley
Method
Prepare seafood as follows:
Octopus: Beat the octopus on the rocks until it is limp. Drop it quickly into boiling water, then remove and pull off the skin. Slice legs into rings and set aside.
Alikreukel: Boil alikreukel in the shell in boiling seawater for 20 minutes. Take them out of their shells and remove the trapdoor and viscera. Rinse well.
White mussels: Cover with fresh cold water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Pour off water and repeat process 3 times until all the sand has been removed.
Black mussels: Scrub well with stiff brush and remove any seaweed. Cover with cold water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Pour off water and repeat process at least 3 times to remove all the sand. Use only closed mussels, since damaged ones are not safe to eat.
Crayfish: Cook on the beach in seawater – 15 minutes from the time the water starts to boil. Cut the crayfish, claws and all, in half, remove intestinal vein and set aside.
Musselcracker or yellowtail: Fillet fish, remove skin and cut into portions. Use head and bones to make stock in smaller potjie. Strain stock and set aside until required.
Prepare potjie as follows:
Sauté onion in the heated cooking or olive oil.
Add rice, lemon rind and dill and sauté for a minute or two.
Add enough stock to cover rice completely.
Arrange fish in potjie starting with the octopus, followed by the alikreukel.
Simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
Now arrange musselcracker or yellowtail portions on top.
Follow with the crayfish halves and finally all the mussels.
Cover with lid and simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until all the shells have opened.
Remove all unopened shells and discard.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cover with lid and heat through for a few minutes.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.