Bobotie is a traditional South African dish that many of you will already know.  This now famous dish has had quite a lot of attention and has been covered by the likes of BBC Good Food and Nigella Lawson.  A quick google search will bring up a host of recipes and options.  The Women's League of the United Nations declared it as South Africa's national dish!  This delicious meal is steeped in history, full of complex flavours and contrasting textures that makes it very TASTY and it is very simple to make.

What is Bobotie?
Bobotie is a slightly sweet curried oven-baked mince. Today bobotie is made with a minced meat (beef or lamb) cooked with a curry powder (gently spiced) and incorporates dried fruit (usually apricots and raisins/sultanas) and chutney to make it a full dish of complex and contrasting flavours. The dish is baked with a layer of savoury egg custard topping and served with yellow rice and sambals. The dried fruits compliment the curry and the bread and egg custard keep the dish moist and full of flavour.

The history of Bobotie
What is now seen as a very South African dish is thought to have been introduced by colonies of the Dutch East India Company that were based in Batavia (now Jakarta). Bobotie is believed to have originated (and been adapted by the Cape Malay’s) from Bobotok which is an Indonesian dish consisting of a meat with a custard topping. The first recipe for bobotie appeard in a Dutch cookbook in 1609 and it has certainly been known in the Cape since the 17th century. While it was originally a more complex recipe is has been simplified to what we know today.

Ingredients 

1 fairly thick slice crustless bread (white or brown)
375 ml milk
25 ml oil
10ml butter
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed…(I slice them thinly, sprinkle with salt and crush with the blade of a knife)
25 ml curry powder
10ml salt
25ml chutney
15ml smooth apricot jam
15ml Worcester sauce
5ml turmeric
25ml brown vinegar
1 kg raw mince
100 ml sultanas (don’t replace with raisins – they are too sweet; sultanas are much better for this recipe)
3 eggs
pinch each salt and turmeric
bay leaves

Method

Soak bread in milk.

Heat oil and butter in large pan and fry onions and garlic. When onions are soft, add curry powder, salt, chutney, jam, Worcester sauce, turmeric and vinegar and mix well. Drain and mash bread and reserve milk.

Add bread to pan together with mince and sultanas.

Cook over low heat, stirring, and when meat loses its pinkness, remove from stove.

Add 1 beaten egg, mix well, then spoon into a greased, 28 x 16 cm baking dish and level the top.

Beat remaining eggs with reserved milk (you should have 300 ml, or a little more) and the salt and turmeric. Pour over meat mixture and put a few bay leaves on top. Stand dish in a larger pan of water (this is important to prevent drying out) and bake, uncovered, at 180 degrees celsius for 1 hour or until set.

Serve with yellow rice, coconut, chutney, nuts and bananas.

Recipe from: Traditional South African Bobotie