Bobotie

Recipe by: Chef Linda Mnikathi
 
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 6
 
Ingredients
1 slice bread
1 ½ cups whole milk
1 ½ tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 onions, sliced or chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ tablespoons curry powder
Salt, to taste
1 ½ tablespoons chutney
1 tablespoon smooth apricot jam
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 ½ tablespoon vinegar
1 pounds ground beef
1 ½ cups sultanas, sub raisins
3 eggs
Turmeric
Bay leaves, fresh is best

Method
Soak the bread in milk.
Heat oil and butter in a large pan and fry the onions and garlic over medium-high heat. When the onions are soft, about 5 minutes, add the curry powder, salt, chutney, jam, Worcester sauce, turmeric, and vinegar. Mix well.
Drain and mash the bread and reserve the milk. Add the bread to the pan and mix. Add the ground beef and sultanas. Mix well.
Set the heat to low heat and cook.
 
Stir occasionally until the beef is cooked. Then, remove from the stove.
Add 1 beaten egg to the meat mixture, mix well, then spoon into a greased 28×16 cm baking dish and level the top. I personally just used the pan I was cooking in. It’s a deep pan with sides that go straight up.
 
You can also use a cast iron pan or dutch oven, to be honest.
Beat the remaining eggs with reserved milk – you should have about 300 milliliters, or about 1 ¼ cups. Season with salt and turmeric.
Pour over the meat mixture and put a few of the bay leaves on top. You can make a pattern or just scatter them about. Make sure to also have an oven proof pan of some sort with some water to add humidity in the oven while this dish bakes. You don’t want the custard to dry out. Bake, uncovered for 1 hour at 350F, or until set.
Serve with rice or couscous, coconut, chutney, slivered almonds, or bananas.

Whatever combination of these you’d like! All optional, of course.