The National Dish of South Africa, Bobotie has every reason to be the superstar of the country. Every house in South Africa is in love with this dish. The delicious flavours combined with theextremely delightful fruits and nuts make this recipe a source of sheer love for the entire country. Being there since the times of early Dutch and Malaysian settlers is the one of oldest dish of the country. What is the origin of the word Bobotie is a really debatable topic. As a fact Bobotie was first used in a Dutch cookbook of 1609. Eventually it was taken to South Africa and was adopted by the Cape Malay community.
A classic representation of love for the South African’s Bobotie is the queen of all dishes in every home and restaurants in Cape Town today. Not only that, but this food is had on almost all festivals and important dates with extreme joy and pride. Traditionally people serve it with yellow rice. Bobotie is a classical replica of the blend of cultural and historic diversities that confluence at a point to create the ultimate South African Cuisine.
Bobotie is simplya perfectly baked meat loaf accompanied by dry fruits and custard sauce. The rich ingredients make this look and taste heavenly. The apricots, apples, raisins, sultanas, baked with beef creates a rain of flavours on your taste buds and I’m sure will instantly become one of your lifetime favourite dish.
The fabulous blend and multitudes of flavour make this an incredibly fantastic dish, or, in the words of a South African, “lekka chow!
South African Bobotie
So without much ado let’s get down to the business!
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 slices white bread
- 2 onions chopped
- 30g Butter
- 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 1kg Packed lean minced beef
- 2 Tbsp. Tamil curry paste
- 1 Tbsp. dried mixed herbs
- 3 Cloves
- 2 Tbsp. mango chutney
- 2 Tbsp. Apricot Jam
- 3 Tbsp. sultanas
- 3 Tbsp. raisins
- 5 Bay Leaves
For Topping:
- 500ml full cream milk
- 3 Large Eggs
Process:
- To begin with wepre heat the oven to 350 deg F/180 deg C.
- Next we soak bread in cold water or milk and keep it aside for some time.
- Next we need to put in some oil and butter in a saucepan and fry the onions until golden brown/translucent.
- Now we’ll add in salt, cloves, curry powder, apricot jam, chutney, vinegar,turmeric, almonds, apples and black pepper.
- Once we are done with that we put in garlic, minced meat along with raisins and sultanas.
- It’s time to take out the bread that we had soaked, after squeezing the milk. Don’t throw away the milk. We’ll use it later.
- Next we take a wooden spatula and mash the bread.
- Now we bring the heat down and simmer our food for 10 minutes until the meat loses its pinkness. We must not forget to keep stirring at frequent intervals.
- Now we’ll remove our food from the stove.
- We’ll now grease a 9*13 Inch baking dish and smoothly pour our mixture into it.
- Next we take 1 beaten egg and the left-over milk from the soaked bread, and a pinch of salt to blend them together.
- Now we’ll spread out this blend smoothly over the top of our dish.
- We’ll place a bay leaf over the milk blend so that it can induce its exquisite smell and taste into our delicious Bobotie.
- Now we are done with our work, so we simply put our dish into the pre-heated oven for 45-50 minutes.
- After almost an hour long wait, we check to ensure the top of our Bobotie, if it’s golden brown we bring it out of the oven and serve it right away. Don’t forget to keep aside the bay leaf while serving.
This goes best with yellow rice or Apricot blatjang or salad.