Traditional Cape Malay Bobotie (Video)

Bobotie, pronounced "Ba-Bo-Tea" is the most famous traditional South African meat dish you'll ever find. It consists of a slightly fruity and savoury curried minced meat baked with egg custard and bay leaf.

It's a marriage of cuisines born in Cape Town. The baked minced meat comes from Europe, similar to mousaka, and the spices from historically Malay and Indian influence. Hence, the cuisine, Cape Malay.

The perfect Bobotie is well-balanced. It should be well seasoned and not too sweet, overly spicy or oily. It should have a light, fluffy texture and the custard baked golden brown.

For the best Bobotie I advise making everything from scratch. The apricot chutney, curry powder and garlic ginger paste forming the base to a delicious result.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Video
• Tips for success
• Variations
• Serving suggestions
• Storage and reheating instructions
• Frequently asked questions
• Useful equipment
• Related recipes
• Recipe

Ingredients

• Meat - Beef Mince. Sometimes Mutton or a mix of mutton and beef are used. Make sure to get good quality mince with 20% fat maximum if buying the mince. When grinding your own meat, the best cuts to use are chuck, rump and brisket.
• Fat - We use butter to fry the onions, but you can also use neutral oil or the fat that renders from cooking the mince.
• Aromatics - Onion as well as garlic and ginger paste makes up the base of the dish.
• Worcestershire sauce - Naturally fermented and a huge flavour enhancer. If you don't have it, use a touch of soy sauce and a bit of vinegar.
• Tomato paste - Another essential ingredient for making the best Bobotie possible. It adds richness and depth of flavour to the base, which is super important.
• Chutney - Apricot chutney is a must. Make your own chilli apricot chutney, or use a good store bought version.
• Spices - Curry powder, extra ginger and turmeric plus a few bay leaves to place on top before baking.
• Raisins - I used a mix of raisins and sultanas, but you could use any or simply omit it if you don't like raisins.
• Eggs mix - Consists of eggs and milk. If you want it richer, replace with cream or half-half (half milk, half cream).

Instructions

1. Prep your ginger and garlic paste first if using homemade, soak the raisins if using, and chop the onions finely.
2. Heat a pan on high and fry your mince until well browned. Do this in batches, so the mince does not boil in its own juices. Once browned, you drain the mince through a sieve to remove or reserve the rendered fat.
3. Next, you fry the onions along with the garlic and ginger paste in butter or the rendered fat from the meat.
4. Cook it slowly and make sure not to caramelise the onions. It's ok if it browns a bit but adjust the balance accordingly as caramelised onions are sweeter.

1. Once the onions are soft, add the spices apart from the ginger powder along with the raisins. Cook it for a few seconds on low heat just to combine.
2. Add the tomato paste and chutney, then cook for a further minute until the tomato paste has lost its rawness.
3. Add the ginger powder and minced meat and give it a good mix.
4. Cook on low heat for a few more minutes.

1. Turn your oven to 180 °C or 356 °F.
2. Place the bobotie mix into a ceramic baking dish. Do not press it down too firmly, but make sure the mix is evenly spread.
3. Whisk together the egg and milk, then pour it over the meat. Decorated with a few bay leaves as per tradition, if you wish. Brush the leaves with water to avoid burning.
4. Place the dish into an oven tray filled with boiling water. This is optional, but will keep the edges from caramelising too much. Some like it that way, so do what you fancy.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, then serve.

Video

Tips for success

• Do not press down the mince too firmly. If you do this, the egg custard won't have a chance to penetrate the meat, and you'll end up with cooked mince and a custard sitting on top.
• Always drain the oil from the meat and any excess oil before baking. Otherwise, you will end up with a pool of oil on the baked egg and/or an oily, heavy bobotie.
• Cook it in a Bain Marie (tray of water) to avoid burnt edges or over caramelisation.

Variations

• Protein - Change the beef to lamb, goat, or even white meat like chicken or turkey.
• Vegan - Use vegan minced meat. I've made vegan bobotie by simply substituting the real meat for vegan, and it tastes remarkably similar.
• Add nuts - For crunch, add some roasted walnuts or pine nuts throughout the mix.
• Fruit or no fruit - Not everyone likes fruit and meat mixed together. You can simply omit the raisins traditionally used. Or, if you like fruit very much, add some soaked dried apricots or plums for an extra fruity bobotie.
• Chutney - Chutney adds balance, and it's also traditional. Leave it out if you want or use another chutney like onion or apple chutney.
• Spice - Madras Curry powder and extra turmeric makes the base flavour. You can make it spicier by adding more dried chilli powder or freshly chopped chillies when frying the onions.

Serving suggestions

Bobotie is traditionally served with yellow rice, which is simply rice with turmeric and maybe a few aromatics like cardamom added while cooking. But that's not the only tasty side dish to serve it with.

• Perfectly fluffy rice - Use this as a base to make yellow rice. Simply add some turmeric to the water.
• Silky smooth mashed potatoes
• South African creamed spinach
• Baked baby potatoes
• Greek salad

Storage and reheating instructions

Once cooked, make sure to chill it down completely before storing.

Wherever you store it, it has to be in an airtight, sealable container or bag.

• Fridge - Will keep well for up to a week. Good for when you bake a large tray and portion it.
• Freezer - Will keep for many months. Also best when you first portion it into smaller pieces then freeze it.
• Defrosting - Can be defrosted in the microwave on defrost setting. For best results, defrost in the fridge overnight.
• Reheating - Gently reheat in the oven covered with foil or in the microwave on medium high covered with a lid.

Frequently asked questions

Useful equipment

Related recipes

• Indian Red Curry Paste
• Homemade South African Droëwors - Beef, Venison And Pork (Video)
• Authentic Thai Red Curry Paste (Video)
• Middle Eastern Lamb koftas
• Biltong - South African Dried Meat

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