Traditionally, South African bobotie is a dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. The Afrikaans etymological dictionary claims that the probable origin is the Malayan word boemboe, meaning curry spices. Others think it to have originated from bobotok, an Indonesian dish which consisted of totally different ingredients. Originally it was made in the Cape of Good Hope using a mixture of mutton and pork; though today it’s more likely to be made with beef or venison. Though a lamb-based version is popular during Easter. Some, but not all versions, use curry powder or curry spices. This version arose in the Cape Malay population of Cape Town.
Prep time 15 minutes/cook time 25 minutes/serves 5
Ingredients:
120ml (1/2 cup) boiled water
2 tbsp mild curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
120ml (1/2 cup) vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
15g (1/2 oz) seedless raisins
1 tsp apricot jam
2 tbsp Mrs Balls chutney
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
15 g coriander, finely chopped
1 T sunflower oil
1kg (2 ¼ lbs) lean lamb mince
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed and soaked in 120ml (1/2 cup) milk
3 free-range eggs
120ml (1/2 cup) milk
6 lemon leaves (or bay leaves)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160°C (140C fan/320F). Mix the boiled water to a smooth paste with the curry powder, turmeric, vinegar, brown sugar, all-spice, raisins, jam and chutney. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, fry the onion, garlic and coriander in the oil until translucent (about 4 minutes). Add the mince and fry briefly, then add the prepared curry mixture and add seasoning to taste. Stir for a few minutes until the mince is just cooked, then take off the heat.
Squeeze the excess milk out of the bread and mix the latter into the meat mixture. Transfer to an ovenproof dish.
Lightly whisk the eggs with the milk and pour over the mince. Top with the lemon leaves then transfer to your pre-heated oven and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until the egg is set and golden.
Typically, this is served with yellow rice and sambals.
