South Africa: Bobotie

Name: South Africa: Bobotie
Cuisine: South Africa
Ingredients: ground lamb: 2 lbs; yellow onion: 1 large onion; olive oil: 1 Tbsp; garlic: 3 Tbsp; curry powder: 1 Tbsp; tumeric: 1 tsp; lemon: 1/2; bread: 2 slices; Large eggs: 1; milk: 1/4 cup; Kosher Salt: 1/2 tsp; dried apricots: 3 oz; green apple: 1 medium; black pepper: 1/2 tsp; golden raisins: 1/4 cup; sliced almonds: 1/4 cup; milk: 1 cup; Large eggs: 2; Kosher Salt: 1/2 tsp

Cuisine:

South Africa

Ingredients

2 lbs ground lamb
or beef or some combo
1 large onion yellow onion
chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
or butter
3 Tbsp garlic
minched
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 lemon
zest and juice
2 slices bread
crumbled
1 Large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
3 oz dried apricots
1 medium green apple
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sliced almonds
For the Topping
1 cup milk
2 Large eggs
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

Directions

I have numerous tales to tell of this dish, mostly of the Messy Kitchen mishaps variety. I’m very fortunate to have a partner on this journey who is willing to procure the provisions required to make it a success (translation: thank you, Courtney, for being my own personal Peapod). However, occasionally there is a slight language barrier between he and I. Take this week when my grocery list said “1 ½ ground lamb (preferred) or beef (high quality).” However, when I went to get the meat from the fridge to add to the already sauteing onions, I found a pork-beef meatloaf blend with a long list of ingredients, including some I couldn’t pronounce. In the freezer it went (for what we’ll ever use it, I don’t know), and Josh and I kept an eye on the brew – which was currently mid-hop cycle – as Courtney made a run for lamb… which I subsequently griped about the price of.

Raise your hand if you’re glad you aren’t married to me.

Okay you can put your hands down now. It gets better. As I read through the next steps of the recipe, I realized this is essentially a well-spiced meatloaf! And one that was so, so much better because it was made with organic, grass-fed, humanely raised lamb. 😉

The Afrikaans etymology of “Bobotie” notes the probable origin as the Malayan word “boemboe”, meaning curry spices. Also unique to this dish are the fruit (fresh and dried) and nuts that are mixed into the meat, and the layer of milk and egg cooked on top (reminiscent of Puerto Rican Pastelón). This brings us to another funny story.

This is the photo of the dish as it was served the night I made it. You may notice it’s missing the egg layer, which I didn’t realize I’d forgotten to add until we’d finished eating it. I blame the fact that I was sharing my small kitchen with an active brew process that was utilizing three of the four burners, trying to monitor the meat dish while simultaneously making the yellow rice and watching the election night episode of West Wing. The fact that we had dinner at all is a bit of a miracle.

Anyways, no – I did not remake the entire dish; I wasn’t about to auction off a kidney to buy more lamb. Luckily, we still had over half the casserole left, so I simply added the egg layer and rebaked. This “meatloaf” was super tender and flavorful and made for amazing leftovers all week long.

Recipe Source: Epicurious

Steps

1 Done	Pre-heat the oven to 400°F. Grease a casserole dish or large pie pan.
2 Done	Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Add the meat and brown slightly. Remove the pot from the heat and drain the fat (reserve if you want to use it in the rice).
3 Done	Transfer to a bowl and mix together the bread crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, golden raisins and almonds and mix in. Pile into the casserole and level the top. Press into the casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.
4 Done	Meanwhile, mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the casserole and return to oven. Bake for an addition 15 minutes, until the egg is cooked through.
5 Done	Serve atop yellow rice: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/yellow-rice-231246. I replaced the butter with the reserved fat I drained from the lamb. Yum!