South African Bobotie

Hi Folks.  Yesterday afternoon Gary and I, as well as the rest of the world, learned about the passing of Nelson Mandela.  I suppose it’s no surprise given all the news reports we’d seen in the recent past, but still a loss.  We were at the gym watching the the multiple televisions all of which were reporting the news paying tribute to a great man and leader as well as the reaction of the South Africans.    We didn’t bring our ear plugs to hear the news so we just read the subtitles.  It saddened us to think of a man who spent over 10,000 days in an 8 x 8 prison cell without ever committing a remotely violent crime.  As we read and discussed his life we asked ourselves “What is South African food?”  We’d never really heard of any particular dish.  This intrigued us to explore.  Once we got home, off to the internet we went and discovered the national dish of South Africa is Bobotie- a meatloaf or shepherds pie topped with a custard.  This sounded amazingly yummy to us and we decided we HAD to try our hand at this dish!

Bobotie is different than what I would consider American shepherds pie or meatloaf in that it has influences from India.  You see, South Africa was ruled by Great Britain and so was India.  As a result, the British brought Indians to South Africa to do heavy, slave labor.  They also brought the flavors of India.  Not exactly an upbeat story, but then again, much of history is not.  We researched several recipes, most of which were in metric conversions, and compiled our own.  Many of the recipes called for chutney, which we did not have, so we used raisins and an apple.  Some recipes used lemon juice, some used vinegar.  Every recipe included topping the custard with bay leaves.  The dish turned out fantastic!  Slightly sweet with delicious earthy spice flavors, a great texture, and very easy.  We hope you enjoy!

South African Bobotie

 

Author: Jenn @ The Spice Kit Recipes

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  45 mins

Total time:  1 hour

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Ingredients

• 2 slices of bread soaked in ½ cup milk
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 cup onion, minced
• 1 tsp. garlic, minced
• 1 lb. ground beef or lamb
• ¼ cup raisins
• ½ apple, peeled, cored, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. each black pepper, cloves
• 1 egg, beaten

Custard Topping

• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup milk (use reserve from bread soak and add more.)
• 6-10 Bay leaves

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Place bread in a bowl and pour milk over it. After 10 minutes, squeeze the bread of excess milk and set aside. Reserve milk.
3. Heat oil on medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute 3-5 minutes.
4. Add meat, raisins, apple, vinegar, sugar, spices.
5. Cook and crumble meat until done, about 5 minutes, but no more.
6. Remove from heat and add the bread soaked in milk torn in pieces and the beaten egg. Mix well.
7. Transfer meat to a greased or oiled 8 x 8 inch baking pan or other baking pan.
8. Bake 10 minutes.
9. Make the custard topping by combining the 2 eggs and milk and beating well.
10. After the meat has baked 15 minutes, remove from the oven and pour the custard over the top. Now place the bay leaves on the custard.
11. Return to the oven and bake bobotie 30-40 minutes more until the custard is set and no longer runny. Serve with a salad and white rice spiced with turmeric, cinnamon, and raisins.

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