Traditional South African Bobotie

Our friends (and most of our readers here on the blog) know that Berto and I love to explore new places. But our other love is cooking – maybe more for Berto than for me. Our favourite place in the house is definitely the kitchen and outside at the ‘braai’ where we can sit around the fire and dream about which places we want to visit next.

For the next few weeks (maybe months) we would like to share some of our favourite dishes with you – most of these will be traditional South African dishes.

We’ve been wanting to put our favourite dishes together in one place for a long time and our blog seems to be the perfect place to do it. It will almost be like our own recipe book. And who knows, maybe there might be one of the dishes that you want to make yourself.

What is bobotie?

In our first edition of ‘Dish of the Week’ we make a genuine traditional dish, namely Bobotie. This is a dish that is particularly loved by the Cape Malay community and consists of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping. It’s also the only dish I could make when Berto and I got married 27 years ago … and it’s still a big favourite in our house after all these years.

Put it on the table:

To make it is easy. We have divided the ingredients into three groups.

Group A

20ml fine ginger

30ml soft brown sugar

10ml mild curry powder

15ml turmeric

salt & pepper

60ml butter (or margarine)

5 medium onions

(Let me confess first: I cry a river when I have to chop onions, so I always have few onions in my dishes. If Berto is nearby, he jumps in and does the chopping).

Group B

2 slices of white bread (soaked in water)

1kg minced meat

150ml seedless raisins

60ml chutney

30ml fine apricot jam

30ml vinegar

30ml Worcestershire sauce

30ml tomato paste

Group C

375ml milk

2 eggs

bay leaves

Now what?

The most effort of this dish is to get all the ingredients from the cupboard. Now comes the easy part (that’s why I love making this dish so much).

Dry ingredients on the stove

On a low heat, all the dry ingredients in Group A are now heated – just keep an eye that they don’t burn.

When I start to smell the spices, I add the butter until it’s melted and then I add the onions. When the onions are soft (or, as in my case, when you can no longer hold back the tears), it’s time for Group B’s ingredients.

Time for the butter and onion

After the water has been squeezed out of the bread, that and the rest of the ingredients from Group B are added to the sautéed onions. Give it a little stir and put a lid on. Now it just has to simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. Remember to stir every now and then.

Group B’s ingredients are in and now it needs to simmer

After 20 minutes (it looks great and smells amazing)

Transfer the mixture to a greased bowl and then it’s time for Group C’s ingredients. Mix the milk and eggs together and pour over the meat. And do you remember those bay leaves? Squeeze it into the meat mixture here and there (believe me, it makes a difference to the taste of the dish).

The final step to a great dish

Place the dish in a preheated oven of 180°C (350°F) and let it bake for 45 minutes.

Before and after

Bobotie

Bobotie tastes even better when served with yellow rice and raisins. Yes, all those raisins in the bobotie and rice will give you more than enough fiber (and we all know that fiber aids digestion and reduces stomach problems, right). And for more colour in your plate (than just yellow), why not try aniseed carrots with it?

Traditional South African meal

Now, do you understand why we love bobotie so much? It is easy to make and tastes delicious.

Note: Oh, and the one who discovers a bay leaf in his/her plate is exempt from washing the dishes!