A South African favourite, this traditional bobotie recipe stems from my friend Ruschka’s mother’s recipe and has been altered to the recipe you see below.
Bobotie is easy to prepare in advance and is always a crowd pleaser. This traditional bobotie is a mix of a few recipes, hints and advice. As with most great dishes everyone has their own special version but this one seems to do the trick for me.
Traditional bobotie with yellow rice. Image credit: Charmaine Zoe
Traditional bobotie recipe
Ingredients
- 500g mince – I used beef, you can mix lamb/ beef or even ostrich if you wish
- 30ml oil
- 1 large carrot – peeled and grated
- 2 onions – chopped
- 10 ml chopped garlic
- 5 ml each of ground coriander, ground ginger, curry powder, cinnamon, turmeric, sugar/apricot jam, salt
- 15ml fresh lemon juice or white vinegar
- thick slice of white bread soaked in milk
- 125ml almond slivers or flaked almonds
- 3 – 4 bay leaves
- 250ml milk or buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- seasoning to taste
Cooking instructions
Fry the onion and garlic in the oil and add the mince. Cook this until the mince is nice and crumbly – not big lumps (use a wooden spoon or a fork to separate bits). Add all the spices and the carrot. Add the lemon juice and mix in.
Add the soaked white bread, making sure to mix it in properly (you shouldn’t be able to see big chunks of bread). Add the almonds and mix through.
Lightly whisk together the milk or buttermilk and eggs. Spoon the mix into a medium sized oven dish and level it with the back of a spoon. Pour the milk and egg mixture over this and poke the bay leaves in the mince for decoration.
Bake at 180 – 190 for about 40 minutes. The egg custard should be firm and set and a golden brown colour.
Serve the bobotie with yellow rice and raisins, sliced banana, chutney and coconut.
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