Bobotie, pronounced BA-BOO-TEA, is a comfort food casserole of spiced, curried ground beef topped with savory egg custard. Almost every restaurant, food truck, and home cook in South Africa have their own version of Bobotie. Some are sweet, some very hot and spicy, but all of them include ground meat, curry, jam or chutney, cinnamon, and bread soaked in milk.
Prep Time
30min
Cook Time
45min
Serves
8-10 people
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 slices thick-sliced white bread, torn into pieces
1 cup whole milk
2 1⁄2 pounds lean ground beef
1 tablespoon medium curry powder
1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
3⁄4 teaspoon turmeric
1 1⁄2 tablespoons malt vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1⁄2 cup seedless raisins
3 tablespoons hot apricot chutney
2 large eggs, beaten
2 bay leaves
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 13×90-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the onions and cook until they are transparent – about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir, cooking, until fragrant – about 1 minute.
3. In a small bowl, add the torn bread and milk. Allow the milk to soak into the bread. Set aside.
4. To the skillet, crumble the ground beef and start to incorporate the onions and garlic into the beef.
5. Stir, breaking up the meat into small bits until it just starts to brown.
6. Squeeze the excess milk out of the bread and add the bread to the meat in the skillet. Don’t discard the milk.
7. Continue to cook the meat, combining it with the bread until well combined and the meat has browned.
8. Using the skillet lid, drain any fat off of the meat. Return to the stovetop.
9. Stir in the curry powder, cinnamon, sugar, salt, turmeric, malt vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, raisins, and hot apricot chutney.
10. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use the back of your spoon to pack the meat tightly into the baking dish.
11. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and the reserved milk from soaking the bread. Pour over the beef mixture. Lay the two bay leaves on top of the egg mixture.
12. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes until the eggs are set.
13. Remove from the oven and serve with yellow rice and extra apricot chutney.
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