Bobotie

This is one of South Africa's traditional dishes. Every time we make it I have to fight to get a photo before it is devoured.... as you can see, I still have not succeeded, but that's because it is so delicious. Even my 5 year old grandson, Caleb, loves it. He calls it, "That yummy meat and eggs with rice Grampa makes...".

This dish has been known in the Cape since early in the 17th century where it was constructed by the Cape Malay servants based on an Indonesian dish known as "bobotok", which consisted of meat with a custard topping that was cooked in a pan of water until the egg mixture set. It was originally made with the leftover meat scraps, chutney or fruit from the "Master's Table". The early Cape Malays would have used ginger, herbs, lemon rind, lemon leaves or bay leaves and nutmeg, but today curry powder is used, but don't forget to add a little nutmeg to the meat mixture and sprinkle a grating of this pungent spice over the egg mixture. Traditionally, bobotie incorporates dried fruit like apricots or sultanas - don't use raisins as they are sweeter than sultanas. Chutney may also be added to the meat mixture. Although not particularly spicy, the dish incorporates a variety of flavours that can add complexity. For example, the dried fruit contrasts with the curry flavouring. The texture of the dish is also complex, with the baked egg mixture topping complementing the milk-soaked bread which adds moisture to the dish.

I was taught to make this dish when I was 6 years old by my Mother's old Aunty Katie from Lichtenburg, in the northern Cape. She insisted it was not Bobotie without nutmeg and bay leaves !

Sadly, I cannot claim this as a handed down version from my Mother as she died quite young and never wrote her recipe down, just put it together from memory when she baked it. I have adapted this from recipes I have found and what I remember my Mother - and Tannie Katie - concocting. Anyway, here's my recipe, which can serve 4-5.

Ingredients:
1 fairly thick slice crustless bread (white or brown)
375 ml milk
12.5 ml oil
5ml butter
1 onion, sliced
5ml chopped garlic , or 2 cloves garlic, crushed
10 ml curry powder
5ml salt
12.5ml chutney
10ml smooth apricot jam
7.5ml Worcester sauce or soy sauce
2.5ml turmeric
2.5ml nutmeg
12.5ml brown vinegar
500g beef or lamb mince
50 ml sultanas (don’t replace with raisins – they are too sweet)

4-5 dried apricots, cut into strips
3 eggs
a pinch of salt
a sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg
3-5 bay leaves

Method:
Soak bread in milk. Heat oil and butter in large pan and fry onions and garlic. When onions are soft, add curry powder, salt, chutney, jam, Worcester sauce, turmeric, nutmeg and vinegar. Mix well.

Drain and mash bread - reserve the milk. Add bread to the pan together with mince, sultanas and apricots. Cook over low heat, stirring, and when meat loses its pinkness, remove from stove.

Add 1 beaten egg, mix well, then spoon into a greased, baking dish and level the top.

Beat remaining eggs with reserved milk (you should have 300 ml, or a little more) and salt. Pour over meat mixture and put a few bay leaves on top. Sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg.

Stand the dish in a larger pan of water (this is important to prevent drying out) and bake, uncovered, at 180˚C for 1 hour or until set.

Serve with rice, grated coconut, fruit chutney and sliced bananas.

P.S. I'll get a better photo next time we make it!

Curried Mince

This recipe is so easy to prepare that it almost feels like a cheat method for no-hassle mince. With mince, there’s no worrying about whether the meat is cooked through, as you would have with chunks of meat. Mince doesn’t have to be checked for tenderness, and other ingredients can be added and subtracted as you please. There’s also no link between effort and scrumptiousness!

Ingredients:

7.5ml salt

7.5ml Red Freezer Masala

10ml turmeric

5ml grated ginger root

10ml vinegar

400g beef or lamb mince

30ml ghee

1 onion, finely chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces

7.5ml sunflower oil

375ml water

100g frozen peas

2 tomatoes, coarse chopped in a blender

Pan Spices:

2-3 cardamom pods

3-4 whole cloves

4-5 pieces Indian cinnamon

To Garnish:

5ml garam masala

30ml coriander, finely chopped

Method:

Prepare the marinade:

Mix the salt, Red Freezer Masala, turmeric, ginger and vinegar into a paste. Press this thoroughly through the mince with the back of a spoon.

Heat the ghee in a saucepan on medium-high. When hot, add the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and sizzle for ½-1 minute. Add the onion and braise, stirring, for 3-5 minutes until translucent to golden brown.

Add the mince to the pot and mix well into the onion. Brown for 10-12 minutes, stirring regularly , breaking up the meat to prevent clumping until the mince juices have reduced considerably.

Reduce the heat, add the potatoes then add 7.5ml oil and about 60ml water and stir. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Mix in the peas and chopped tomatoes into the mince, add about 200ml water Stir gently and cover, returning the pan to a simmer for 15 minutes. The dish is done when the potatoes are cooked through. Adjust for the required amount of gravy by adding water in small amounts, heating between each addition.

Garnish with garam masala and fresh coriander. Serve rolled in roti or as a filling for bread rolls or Vetkoeks. 

Kheema or Curried Mince

This is one of the most versatile of curries, which is also quite economical. Although lamb mince is normally used, you could use beef mince if you wished to, or you could substitute some of the meat with lentils or beans to make an even more economical dish. Kheema can be served with bread rolls, roti or naan, on toast, with rice or noodles, layered with macaroni or for the meat sauce in biryani. It's a great meat sauce for making meat pies or 'vetkoeks', a type of savoury doughnut of Afrikaans origin.

Ingredients:
50ml vegetable oil
3 large onions sliced
1 inch root ginger, peeled and chopped
a pinch of salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5ml turmeric
5ml hot chilli powder
5ml ground coriander
700g minced lamb
5ml salt
1 x 410g tin chopped tomatoes
30ml chopped coriander

Method:
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the onions and ginger with a pinch of salt when it is hot. Fry gently over a low to medium heat until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the garlic and the spices and fry for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the meat and fry until it is all browned, then stir in the salt and tomatoes and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the meat is cooked through and the gravy is thickened.

Transfer to a warmed serving dish and garnish with the chopped coriander.

Christmas Mince Pies

Christmas mince pies are sweet fruit pies traditionally served in the Christmas season.

The recipe can be traced back to the 13th century

when the Crusaders returned from the holy land,

bringing with them the idea for a dish sized pie containing

mincemeats, fruit, suet and spices, such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

The pies were originally associated with

the offerings of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

brought to the Christ child by the three kings from the east in the Christmas story.

The pies were oblong, representing the manger in which the Christ child lay.

Even though the pies were banned in puritanical times,

they were brought back in Victorian times

as the small, sweet pies with suet, fruit and spices

that we know today -

no longer containing any mincemeat at all.

.

Ingredients:
Pastry:
125g butter
125ml caster sugar
1 egg
5ml vanilla extract
500ml flour
7.5ml baking powder
Christmas fruit mince, which can be bought in the supermarket or homemade.
icing sugar to dust before serving

.

Christmas Fruit Mince:

Although my source recipe for Christmas Mincemeat suggested that this should be made about a month in advance and should not be kept for longer than 6 weeks, I usually make this up as much as a year or more in advance.

The longer it is kept, the more mature and boosie it is.

The traditional recipe contains currants, which I find a little to potent,

so I use blueberries or dried cranberries instead.

.

250g cooking apples, peeled and cored

250g blueberries or dried cranberries, or a mix of both

250g raisins

250g sultanas

250g prunes

250g dried apricots

125g glace cherries

125g chopped mixed peel

125g chopped walnuts, hazel nuts, Brazil nuts or a mix of all three

250g suet, minced

500g Muscovado sugar

10ml mixed spice

125ml brandy or rum

.

Method:

Clean and mince the dried fruit.

Mix in a large bowl with the nuts and the chopped apples.

Fold in the suet, sugar and spice.

Add the brandy or rum and mix into the fruit. Make sure the liquor is enough to cover all the fruit.

Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 48 hours to allow the fruit to absorb the liquor and swell.

Stir well and store in sterilised jars. Seal well and put away until required for the pies.

Method:
Pies:
Cream the butter and the sugar until it takes on a creamy smoothness.
Add the egg and vanilla extract; beat well.
Fold in the flour and baking powder, a little at a time to make a stiff dough.
Form the dough, which will have quite a sticky constituency, into a ball and transfer it to a flowered board to knead.
Knead the dough until it takes on a more firm constituency.
Cover in cling film and place in the fridge to firm up for about half an hour to an hour.
Prepare a 12 holed tart baking tray but buttering it and dusting with flour.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut out circles of dough with a biscuit cutter. Fill the depressions in the tray with the circles of pastry.
Put about a teaspoonful of fruit mince in each tart and cover each with a smaller circle of pastry than the bases or with a star of pastry. The tarts do not have to be sealed if you use the star shape.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry starts to take on a bit of colour.
Transfer the pies to a wire rack to cool.
These can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container.
Before serving, warm them up by putting them in the oven again for 5-8 minutes.
To serve, dust them with a little icing sugar.