South African Bobotie

This recipe comes from my dad and his South African side of the family. Bobotie is a traditional Malay-South African dish and while the ingredients seem weird you'll just need to trust me because it is mouth-watering delicious. It's sweet and spicy and will warm you up on a winter night. I like to serve it with rice but naan bread would go well too.

Serves 4

A.

2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 onion finely chopped

B.

1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar (I prefer lemon)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (I use Heinz for a gluten-free version)
2 Tbsp apricot jam
2 tsp chutney (I use Raj Masala Tamarind Chutney sauce as it is nut-free and that can be tricky to find)
1 Tbsp tomato sauce or ketchup

C.

A thick slice of bread, soaked in a little milk, and ripped into pieces (Udi's works for gf)
1 lb of ground beef (I have started using ground turkey and it works too but beef is better)
Topping: 1 egg and a little milk, beaten together

Step 1: Warm a big heavy pot over low heat and add all the "A" ingredients, stirring from time to time to prevent burning. This takes one to two minutes at most, until you smell the spices.

Step 2: Add all the "B" ingredients. Keeping at medium-low heat, mix well til bubbling (1 minute). Add the soaked and broken bread, stir well.  Add the meat. Turn up the heat to medium and cook until the meat starts to change colour from pink.

Step 3: Empty everything into a 9x9 dish. Don't grease the dish. Top the meat mixture with the beaten egg/milk. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.

 

And as my dad says, "drink no water, but a little wine for thy stomach's sake." He's liberally stealing from St. Paul there.  Dad likes to plagarize.