Bobotie

Ingredients

• Minced beef900 g
• White bread2 slice
• Milk400 ml
• Onions2
• Curry powder2 tbsp
• Turmeric1 tsp
• Dried apricots100 g
• Raisins80 g
• Apricot chutney3 tbsp
• Vinegar2 tbsp
• Eggs3
• Bay leaves4
• Almonds50 g
• Vegetable oil40 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the bread in half the milk for ten minutes and squeeze it out, keeping the milk.

   12 min

2. 2

   Fry the onion in oil until soft, add the curry powder and turmeric and warm them a minute, until fragrant.

   10 min

3. 3

   Add the mince and cook, breaking up lumps, until it loses its pink, about ten minutes.

   12 min

4. 4

   Stir in the bread, apricots, raisins, chutney, vinegar, salt and pepper and take it off the heat.

   6 min

5. 5

   Press it into a dish, level it and bake at 180 °C for forty minutes.

   42 min

6. 6

   Beat the eggs with the remaining milk, pour it over, stand the bay leaves in the custard and scatter the almonds.

   6 min

7. 7

   Return it to the oven for twenty minutes, until the custard sets and turns golden.

   22 min

About the dish

Bobotie came from the Cape Malays, descendants of people brought here as slaves from Southeast Asia. Hence the curry, the turmeric and the sweet-savoury pairing that is unusual elsewhere in Africa.

Bread soaked in milk is worked into the mince; it keeps the filling tender rather than letting it set into a dense patty.

The custard is poured on twenty minutes before the end rather than at the start. Added from the beginning it curdles and darkens before the meat is hot through.

Worth knowing

• — Balance the sweet against the sour in the pan, by tasting. After baking there is nothing to add.
• — It is served with yellow rice and raisins, banana and chutney. That set is standard and not accidental: each accompaniment works against the spice in the meat.
• — The bay leaves stand upright in the custard. They scent it from above rather than boiling away in the mince.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

590 kcal

Protein

34 g

Fat

32 g

Carbs

40 g

More from South Africa

• Chakalaka — A spicy vegetable relish of carrot, pepper and beans with curry. For a braai, for pap, or on its own.