Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Bobotie- a traditional Afrikaans dish.

Happy New Year! It was an insanely busy Christmas, but we had a great time! I cooked a lot, but I didn't take pictures or even think to blog- there just wasn't any time. I tried a few new recipes that I will most definitely be putting on my blog in the future. And I got the "Food Matters" cookbook for Christmas so I will be posting a lot of new recipes from that one. For now though... on to tonight's dish...
In previous posts I have mentioned our South African friends and their influence on my cooking. Tonight's dish is a very traditional Afrikaans meal that they first introduced to us at Thanksgiving. It's pronounced boh-BOH-tee, unless you ask someone who speaks Afrikaans, but I have a hard time pronouncing it the way they do. It's essentially a meat pie that uses ground beef ( they call it mince), and has a curried flavor. It's very easy to make, and very flavorful.
The recipe I used was a combination of 2- one from my "Extending the Table" cookbook, and my friend's recipe.


Ingredients:
3/4 cup soy milk
a pat of butter or tablespoon cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1Tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 Tablespoons Mrs. Balls Chutney ( can be found at World Market)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Bay leaves
dash of pepper
1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar (I used lemon juice)
1 slice bread
2 eggs
2 lbs ground beef




Method: Preheat oven to 350.
1.Soak 1 slice bread in 3/4 cup milk
2.In a saute pan heat oil or butter and add 1/2 cup onions. Saute until translucent then add the ground beef.
3. Once beef is cooked, drain and rinse the beef in hot water. This will get rid of the excess oil and fat.
4. Return meat to pan and add curry powder, turmeric, chutney, 1 beaten egg, salt, pepper, lemon juice, sugar, and the soaked bread after you squeeze out and reserve the milk. Stir all added ingredients together.
5.Put in a well greased baking dish and add the Bay leaves. Cook for 20 minutes in the oven.



6.Whisk together 1 egg, the reserved milk from the bread. Pour over the meat mixture.
7. Bake until egg mixture is set, about 15-20 minutes.




Serve over rice.

We served it with steamed green beans, a mixed green salad, and red wine. YUM!

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