Traditional bobotie recipe

Posted by Michelle Parkin on 11 July 2012

A South African favourite, this traditional bobotie recipe stems from my friend Ruschka’s mother’s recipe and has been altered to the recipe you see below.

Traditional bobotie recipe. Photo by Michelle Parkin.

Bobotie is easy to prepare in advance and is always a crowd pleaser. This traditional bobotie is a mix of a few recipes, hints and advice. As with most great dishes everyone has their own special version but this one seems to do the trick for me.

Traditional bobotie recipe

Ingredients

500g mince – I used beef, you can mix lamb/ beef or even ostrich if you wish
30ml oil
1 large carrot – peeled and grated
2 onions – chopped
10 ml chopped garlic
5 ml each of ground coriander, ground ginger, curry powder, cinnamon, turmeric, sugar / apricot jam, salt
15ml fresh lemon juice or white vinegar
thick slice of white bread soaked in milk
125ml almond slivers or flaked almonds
3 – 4 bay leaves
250ml milk or buttermilk
2 eggs
seasoning to taste

Cooking instructions

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil and add the mince. Cook this until the mince is nice and crumbly – not big lumps (use a wooden spoon or a fork to separate bits). Add all the spices and the carrot. Add the lemon juice and mix in.

Add the soaked white bread, making sure to mix it in properly (you shouldn’t be able to see big chunks of bread). Add the almonds and mix through.

Lightly whisk together the milk or buttermilk and eggs. Spoon the mix into a medium sized oven dish and level it with the back of a spoon. Pour the milk and egg mixture over this and poke the bay leaves in the mince for decoration.

Bake at 180 – 190 for about 40 minutes. The egg custard should be firm and set and a golden brown colour.

Serve the bobotie with yellow rice and raisins, sliced banana, chutney and coconut.