Bobotie From The Cape Food

BOBOTIE

Steps:

• Set the oven at 160°C (325°F). Butter a large casserole. Heat butter and oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Remove the pot from the heat.
• Mix in the minced meat. Mix together the crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, sultanas (golden raisins) and almonds and mix in. Pile into the casserole and level the top. Roll up the leaves and bury them at regular intervals. Seal with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F). Mix together the topping milk, eggs and salt (you may require extra topping if you've used a very large casserole), pour over and bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes until cooked and lightly browned. Serve with Yellow Rice and Blatjang .

BOBOTIE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Pour cold water over the bread and set aside to soak.
• Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter, stirring regularly for 10 mins until they are soft and starting to colour. Add the garlic and beef and stir well, crushing the mince into fine grains until it changes colour. Stir in the curry paste, herbs, spices, chutney, sultanas and 2 of the bay leaves with 1 tsp salt and plenty of ground black pepper.
• Cover and simmer for 10 mins. Squeeze the water from the bread, then beat into the meat mixture until well blended. Tip into an oval ovenproof dish (23 x 33cm and about 5-6cm deep). Press the mixture down well and smooth the top. You can make this and chill 1 day ahead.
• For the topping, beat the milk and eggs with seasoning, then pour over the meat. Top with the remaining bay leaves and bake for 35-40 mins until the topping is set and starting to turn golden.

CAPE MALAY BOBOTIE RECIPE

Steps:

• In a medium to hot pan cook the onions until soft, then add the mince and brown, mixing well to combine with the onions.
• Soak the bread in milk and mash it in a bowl with a metal fork.
• Put 1 egg, half a cup of milk and the bay leaves aside.
• Place this mixture into a greased oven proof dish and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.
• Mix all the other ingredients together and then combine with the mince, allowing it to cook until the flavours have combined for about 5 minutes.
• Beat the remaining milk and eggs that you put aside earlier and pour over meat mixture. Float the bay leaves on the top and bake for another 30 minutes.

BOBOTIE

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a saucepan.
• Add the onions and saute for 5 minutes.
• Add the apple dice and cook for 1 more minute.
• Add the chopped beef and mix together.
• Squeeze out the excess milk from the bread slices.
• Tear up the bread slices and add to pot.
• Add the curry powder, raisins, almonds, lemon juice, egg, and turmeric, and stir well.
• Place mixture in a greased 9 x 13" baking dish.
• Place bay leaves vertically in the casserole.
• Bake at 325 degrees F for 40 minutes, then remove from the oven.
• Mix together the egg and milk
• Then pour it over the Bobotie.
• Bake for 15 more minutes.
• Remove bay leaves before serving.

BOBOTIE, FROM THE CAPE

Steps:

• *It might not be easy to find the breyani mix of spices we can get here. But it is only a mix of some or all of the following spices, which you could mix yourself and crush or process coarsely: fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin, pimento berries, cardamom, black pepper, star anise, bay leaves and cassia or cinnamon sticks.
• Set oven at 350 deg F/180 deg Celsius For fan/convection ovens the heat can be 10 deg. lower.
• In a small bowl, tear up the slices of bread roughly, and pour over the ½ cup milk. Set aside.
• Peel and chop the onion. Heat about 3 tablespoons oil in a large pot. Fry the onion over medium heat until translucent.
• Add the curry powder, coarsely crushed breyani spices and turmeric. Stir, and let the spices fry for a few minutes. Add more oil if they stick: usually quite a bit of oil is needed.
• Add the chopped, peeled tomato, sugar, grated apple and lemon rind and stir through. Fry for a minute, then add the meat.
• Break up the meat so that the ground meat is loose. Add the salt. Stir often, and mix through with the spice mixture.
• Add the apricot jam, and stir so it melts into the meat mixture.
• When the meat is sort of medium done, remove the pot from the heat. Stir through and let cool a little.
• Take the bread which has been soaking in the milk, and break it up into wet crumbs. The bread will have absorbed all the milk. Add the milky crumbs to the meat mixture, and mix through.
• Break the egg in a bowl, whisk, and add the milk.
• Add this milk-egg mixture to the meat as well.
• Turn into a greased oven dish, and stud with almonds on top. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
• Whisk the last egg with the milk and enough turmeric to turn the mixture a nice yellow colour. Take the meat out of the oven, pour over the custard, and bake about 15 minutes longer, or until the egg custard has set.
• Serve with Yellow Rice (Begrafnisrys), a green vegetable such as broccoli, and a salad.
• After tasting the bobotie, feel free to play around with the spices next time!