A Delicious South African Dish: “Bobotie”
Bobotie is a traditional Cape Malay dish that has become a trademark of South African cuisine. When the Malaysian slaves arrived in the Cape in the late sixteenth and seventeenth century they brought with them numerous eastern recipes. Bobotie combines a very interesting array of ingredients: meat, curry, spices and fruit / dried fruit. The result is a unique tasting sweet, sour and spicy meat dish.
It was traditional for the Malay people to have a Sunday roast each week. On the following Monday, they would use the left over Roast meat (beef or lamb) to make “Bobotie”. They would grind the meat up, add the various ingredients mentioned above and then pour an egg mixture on top of everything before baking it in the over . The dish would then be served with rice and vegetables.
In a fit of homesickness last weekend, I decided to make some “Bobotie”…and Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Given that a fair dinkum Aussie fancied the delicate tastes of Africa, I thought it may hold some appeal for others. Michael describes it as “Shepard’s Pie with a dash of curry and an omelette on top instead of mashed potatoes”. I told him he was being rude about a sacred dish and that he should wander off and take his stubby holders with him. I would however, encourage you all to give it a go and let me know what you think.
Here is the recipe (compliments of Mumsie back in South Africa):
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 onions
- Cooking oil or butter
- 1 kg mince (don’t use the cheap, fatty variety – it will be revolting)
- 1 slice bread, crusts removed (I put in 2 so that the mince sets properly)
- 250ml milk (1 cup)
- 2 eggs (I use 3, see the method for details)
- 15ml (1 Tbs) medium / mild curry powder (this dish is not supposed to be strong)
- 22.5 ml (1½ Tbs) sugar
- 10ml salt
- 2.5ml pepper
- 7.5ml turmeric
- 30ml vinegar or juice of 1 lemon (I use lemon)
- ½ cup of seedless raisins
- ½ cup of chopped dried apricots
- ¼ cup of shaved almonds
- 2 bay leaves or lemon leaves (Bay leaves are fine, and easier to find!)
- 45mls (3 Tbs) chutney (Try and find “Mrs Balls Fruit Chutney” from South Africa. A fair few stores stock it).
NOTE: halve the above for less – it makes a fair bit!
METHOD:
- Heat oven to 180ºC
- Soak chopped dried apricots in boiling water to soften. Drain when soft.
- Fry onions and then add the meat and brown – no lumps of meat please (message from mum). I can’t handle lumpy mice dishes, so I mix in a half a cup of water to assist in mashing the mince. If you don’t care, ignore the above.
- Soak the bread in the some milk on a plate. This is not a part of the 250mls milk in the ingredients list! You just need enough to get the bread nice and soggy. Set aside – you will be mixing this in last.
- Mix all the ingredients except the milk, egg and lemon / bay leaves into the mince, while it is cooking. Add a bit of water if it starts to get dry. Don’t drown it!!
- When it is all mixed, add the two slices of soggy bread and mash it into the mixture. I use a potato masher which helps. Make sure it is mixed in properly.
- Now, this is a family amendment to the recipe: crack an extra egg into the mixture after you have stirred the bread in. Mix that in quickly before it sets (so you have bits of egg floating around in the mince!). This, along with the bread really helps to set the dish.
- Spoon the mixture into greased over oven dish, pop the leaves into the mince (I still don’t really know how 2 leaves are going to flavour a whole dish, but I just do what Mumsie says). Make sure the mince is spread flat and packed tightly.
- Beat the egg with remaining milk and pour over the mince. Don’t worry if some of it soaks into the mince. If it is smooth and flat, you should minimise this from happening.
- Bake for about 30 min or till done. The way you test if it is cooked or not is to stick a knife into the egg mixture in the middle, if it is set then it’s done. If not, leave it for a while longer (we are not looking for eggnog mince here!).
TO SERVE:
Cook up some rice and peas and serve with a good whack of “Bobotie”.
Serve with lots of chutney. As a kid I would mix the rice, peas and “Bobotie” together and then throw loads of chutney on top. How sophisticated.
*****************
Ok, so I know that at least three people have asked for the recipe and will try it. For the others, this took a long time for my mum to type up, so you better if it a go.
I want feedback as well. Pronto.
Well, I made this same day and can vouch for it. Very nice indeed. I do recommend going OVERBOARD with the chutney on serving as the other flavours aren’t powerful (I just used plum chutney).
I also had no almonds – pine nuts work well.
I used lemon leaves from my tree and it was really nice.
Came across your blog through your boyfriends, who I found via a google search on actionscript 3d engines. I’m in the US and just wanted to clarify a term…you say 1kg mince, I’m presuming mince is simply ground beef? The lean variety?
P.S. – My fiance’s name is also Sam :)
Hi Matt. Yeah, I do mean ground beef. I guess “mince” is short for “minced meat”…even after living in Australia for 3 years, I still can’t lose some of my South Africanisms! Let me know how you like the bobotie!
my coment here is that this food is somehow o! im mean it o!
Hi Sam,
Nice recipe, easy to follow. My husband doesn’t like raisins/apricots in food – but it’s good even without these ingredients. One thing I think adds to serving bobotie is typical “yellow rice”. Adds some appeal to the dish. Just cook rice as usual and add some saffron to the water (very little required).
Thanks for the post.
I’m from the States and that babotie dish does not look appealing at all to me !!
Hi Marque. Although this is a South African dish, every non-South African that has tasted it has thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember thinking that the American corn-dog was greasy, unhealthy and would taste quite revolting, …until I tried one. Granted, it is unhealthy and VERY fattening, but it actually tasted alright! I may even have another when next I am in your country…I guess we can’t accurately comment on things until we are truly familiar with them.
I’m an Aussie and totally agree that this dish looks freaky… at first I had my reservations, too!
Close your eyes and it will taste much better.
Michael, get off my blog!!!
Besides, you LOVE it!
I haven’t tried your recipe yet, but I came across your blog after having some fabulous babotie for lunch here in New York. I was told the person who made it was South African, and as there were already two bay leaves in the slice I ate, I think it is probably fine to add more than two leaves to the dish. But I am excited to try this recipe. One other note – I don’t know if this is often done, but the place I ate it at served it cold (since it was an organic take-out place that doesn’t seem to believe in reheating food) and it was even great cold!
Hi Nina. It is great cold. At school my mum used to make leftover bobotie and chutney sandwiches for me. She would slice it cold on a breadroll or sandwich with a thin spread of chutney – really good!! Please let me know how the recipe goes!
Hi Sam,
I found ur site whilst browsing for Malay recipes. I am South African and am the so called ‘coloured’. I have to honestly say that I havent tried the bobotie yet. It sounds delicious though. I have to give it a try.
Hi Sam
Thanks so much for posting this recipe. I’ve got it in the oven as I type this. My husband and I were given a “bobotie paste mix” in a jar. My mother-in-law bought it in the UK for us and it was a product of South Africa. We’re Canadian. We were so disappointed because we loved the dish, but assumed we would never be able to make it again without the mix! Like I said, it’s in the oven, so I haven’t tried the finished product yet, but I know already it is going to be great. Thank Mumsie for me, please. By the way, I made it with ground turkey (as I did the first time).
Hi, I am a SAfrican who has been living in the UK for the past 11 years I moved along with the mass exodus of most unfortunately but I still love SA & am very proud to be South African but with SA getting through to the final of the Rugby World Cup & it heading towards our winter I felt I needed to dedicate the night to all things South African & the perfect food was Bobotie. My sister-in-law kindly sent me a recipe book but it was all in Afrikaans & I have to admit to being a bit rusty, so took the precaution of searching the web for another recipe & came across yours, so followed it tonight as it was quite easy to understand & follow, as soon as I put everything in the pan, the smells took me back. Glad to say my other half loved it (a fussy Englishman who doesn’t get Biltong!!) & its turned out a treat & best of all to top it off the Springboks won & we are World Champs again. Glad your mom has all the great South African recipes – I noticed the cremora tart, I always remember a Condensed milk tart that was brill & along a similar line. My friends here just don’t get the idea of some of our South African food & couldn’t believe it when I told them what bobotie was. I have put you on my favourites & will def be using your recipe again & checking out the others. Good Luck with everything in Oz
Hi Sam, thank u so much for ur website, I was so pleased to find it as I needed to find a recipe for Babotie. We live in SA but we are both english [frm England] and love Babotie [in fact we love most SA food, even cook pap with tomato & onion sauce with our braai's!!]. Its my husbands birthday today & I want to make this for him as a special surprise treat for his supper as its his favourite dish! In the past we have had many SA friends make it for us but I have never made it myself. So it will REALLY be a big surprise for hubby when he comes home frm work!! Will let u know how it goes with this recipe u have placed here. But I know its going to be delicious as we have never tasted a bad one yet. By the way ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ for winning the Rugby World Cup – it was so wonderful to hear the celebrations here in Kempton Park, it was so loud that we had to turn down our TV as we could not hear it anyway above all the cheers, whistles, fireworks, horns blowing & cars hooting – it went on for hours!! Sounded like the whole world was celebrating!! Blessings Dawn
though english i always remembered my mum cooking this up when younger.sort of remembered it and decided i fancied it. after a few spellling mistakes finally found the recipe on line. yours looked closest to how i recalled it. lovely. thanks sam and to your mum
hi Scots living in Sa Amanzimtoti got this recipe from my Scots brother living in Canada. He loves it. Do you have a recipe for melk tert?
At home life goes on and we are staying!
troubles all over the world are we any different here inSA?
Well i was first introduced to Bobotie last night and it was really really yummy, hence i was on the internet the next morning looking for the receipe.
I will definately give it a go to make it and introduce this dish to my family..considering i am asian origin and love my curries etc, Bobotie is a great dish..