Rotary’s potjiekos competition a feast to remember

The lush garden on the farm of Rotarians Martiens and Anette de Wet on Sunday provided the ideal venue for the Rotary Club of Pietersburg 100’s annual potjiekos competition with the Bulgarian Team of the Rotary Club of Polokwane emerging as the winner.
Teams from the Rotary clubs of Louis Trichardt and Mokopane joined the five teams from the city and the team members and their work stations were attired and decorated according to the theme “Rotary connects the world (through your stomach)”.
The rules were very strict and only potjies were allowed. All the food had to be prepared on site and every course of each meal had to contain a vegetable. Depending on the persuasive abilities of the team leaders, the judges also allowed supplements such as tequila to be regarded as vegetables.
The winning entry with its Bulgarian theme comprised stuffed peppers with a yogurt and roasted aubergine salad as a starter, with the main course being beef cooked in a secret Bulgarian way served on a bed of basmati rice and potato purée, with a Bulgarian green salad on the side. The dessert was pancakes with an onion and garlic filling with watermelon, feta and walnuts. Strong Turkish coffee rounded off the perfect meal and made it very difficult for the judges, Kelly Fowlds and Rina du Toit to choose a winner.
The French Team’s creamy mussels with a potjie-baked cheese and onion bread invited quite a lot of interest from other teams and the Limpopo Waikanda For Ever Team had the judges guessing when they presented their Limpopo Butterflies starter, or better known as masonja worms.
Their main dish was a Limpopo biltong stew on a bed of samp and Waikanda raisin braai rolls for dessert.
President of the Rotary Club of Pietersburg 100, Johan Joubert congratulated the winning team of the neighbouring club under the leadership of President Antoaneta Atanasova-Letsoalo and extended a special word of thanks to the De Wet family for providing the vegetables and the striking venue.
“The potjiekos competition is one of our most popular social gatherings where the whole family and other Rotarians from the province can come together and we all look forward to next year’s event, being the fourth,” Joubert said.

Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com