Bobotie

[Habanero Smoker]

I decided to do this over the weekend; probably Sunday. There were so many variations of the recipes out there that I decided to use the recipe posted on a South African restaurant website Gramadoelas Exotic African Restaurant http://www.gramadoelas.co.za/source/content/bobotie.htm . Instead of lamb, I'm going to use very lean ground beef. The recipe did not list almonds, but the directions state to add them, so it must have been an error that they left them out. Most recipes called for ¼ cup of slivered almonds, so I am going to add this to the recipe. I'm not a raisin person, but I will add them to the recipe anyway (every recipe I came across had raisins).

Many sites state you need to have a sweet tooth to like this recipe. I don't like that much sweetness, so if I like it it's not too sweet.

Bobotie

Gramadoelas Exotic African Restaurant
Ingredients:
Traditionally boboties were made with minced mutton, but beef may be used.

1 slice white bread, 3cm (1inch) thick, broken into small bits
1 T brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 t salt
2 T butter
½ t freshly ground black pepper
2 T oil
¼ t cup strained fresh lemon juice
1 kg coarsely ground lean lamb ; approx. 2 ¼ lbs.
3 eggs
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion
1 cooking apple, peeled, cored & finely grated
2 T curry powder
½ cup seedless raisins
4 small fresh lemon leaves, or bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.(350 degrees F) Combine the bread and milk in a small bowl and let the bread soak for 10 min.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter over moderate heat. When the foam subsides, add the oil, then the onions, stirring frequently.

Cook the onion until soft and translucent. Add the curry powder, sugar, salt and pepper, and stir for 2 min. Add the lamb to the spices and stir. When browned, stir in the lemon juice and bring the mixture to the boil.

Drain the bread in a sieve set over a bowl and squeeze completely dry. Reserve the drained milk. Then add the bread and one of the eggs to the mixture

Then add the apple , raisins and almonds to the lamb. Stir or beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are well combined. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired. Pack the lamb mixture loosely in an ovenproof baking dish. Tuck the lemon, orange or bay leaves beneath the surface of the meat. With a whisk beat the remaining 2 eggs with the reversed milk until they frosh.

Pour this mixture slowly and evenly over the meat and bake the bobotie on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes until the surface has browned and feels firm to the touch. Serve directly from the baking dish as soon as it has been removed from the oven. Bobotie is traditionally accompanied by yellow raisin rice.

[Habanero Smoker]

Well I made Bobotie today; I will give a more detail report latter. I will say that I like it. The web sites that said this was sweet were way wrong.

I made a mistake in not using leaner ground beef. The store I was in only had 80% lean, being in a hurry that is what I purchased. Next time I will use 90% lean. The curry taste was too mild for me. I used a mild curry powder. Next time I will add 1-2 teaspoons more, and add some cayenne pepper. Also it took a while for the custard to set (an extra 12 minutes), and it never browned, so I will boost the oven temperature to 400F.

[manxman]

Hi HS, interesting. Look forward more detailed comments. Despite what I said previously I may well try it now you have given it a go. ;)

This is one recipe for bobotie I have in one of my cookbooks, you may have seen it during you search although I have not tried it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bobotie_79662.shtml

I can't remember if I posted a link in the original bobotie comments in the meatloaf section but useful to have it here to compare in any case.

The cookbook I got it from has several interesting recipes from Romania (inc. spicy sausage and a nice chicken paprika dish) Transylvania, Ireland/Isle of Man, Namibia (bobotie) and Portugal that include meat and fish dishes.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/hairybikers_one.shtml

[iceman]

Thanks for the info HS. I wonder if using a double loaf pan and letting the fat drip through the perforated inner pan would help. I don't know how that would work with the custard part of it though. Oh well, looking foward to more detail from you. Thanks again.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi HS, interesting. Look forward more detailed comments. Despite what I said previously I may well try it now you have given it a go. ;)

This is one recipe for bobotie I have in one of my cookbooks, you may have seen it during you search although I have not tried it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/bobotie_79662.shtml

I can't remember if I posted a link in the original bobotie comments in the meatloaf section but useful to have it here to compare in any case.

The cookbook I got it from has several interesting recipes from Romania (inc. spicy sausage and a nice chicken paprika dish) Transylvania, Ireland/Isle of Man, Namibia (bobotie) and Portugal that include meat and fish dishes.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/hairybikers_one.shtml

I've been busy all day with some contractors. I will check out the links tonight, and send a report on the bobotie tomorrow. That cookbook looks interesting. If there is an International Food fair within 100 miles, I am ususally there. I love to try foods from different parts of the world.

Iceman;
That's a good idea, but like you stated it would not work due to the custard. I did not want to drain off the fat before placing it into the cassarol dish, for fear I would loose too much flavor. Maybe browning the meat first, then draining the fat, but usually there are reasons for following specific steps in a recipe, so I'm not sure if I should do that.

[Habanero Smoker]

Manxman,
I did see that recipe on the BBC site, but did not look at it long, due to the amount that it made. I may try that style of cooking Bobotie, and incorporate some of the ingredients from the other recipe. The way it is prepared on the BBC site, it is a meatloaf. It looks like I have to just use 1/3 of the ingredients. I should have taken a few minutes to study it.

I prepared the Bobotie as in the recipe that was posted, and also added the ¼ cup of almonds that was omitted from the recipe list. It is hard to describe the taste of Bobotie. All the flavors blended together; but occasionally you would bite into a raisin, or almond or some apple; sometimes one or more at the same time, and you'd experience a different meal. You can't call it a meatloaf; a meat pie would be more accurate. Since the meat is cooked prior to placing it in the 1 ½ qt. casserole dish, it does not form into a loaf. I'm sure the purpose of the custard is to hold the meat together, but mine just fell apart when served on a plate. As I stated in an earlier post, I had trouble getting the custard to set and brown. I'm guessing the fat in the dish may have interfered with the custard setting.  It did not look that appetizing, but it was good.

If I use the same recipe, some things that I am going to adjust next time; first I will use leaner meat, either 90% lean beef, or buffalo meat.  I don't like lamb, so I am not going to use that type of ground meat. Next I am going to add more curry powder to the dish, and add more eggs to the custard.

[manxman]

Next I am going to add more curry powder to the dish, and add more eggs to the custard.

It's this bit I have a job getting my head round, curried custard with beef (or lamb) does just not sound right but curiosity is getting the better of me reading your posts! :o

[Habanero Smoker]

Next I am going to add more curry powder to the dish, and add more eggs to the custard.

It's this bit I have a job getting my head round, curried custard with beef (or lamb) does just not sound right but curiosity is getting the better of me reading your posts! :o

I've had curried oxtail, and it was good. So I'm concluding (which is often a dangerous thing for me to do) that curried beef should be alright. The amount that was in the dish I prepared had a pleasant flavor, but not strong enough for my taste.