Bobotie
When I (Dougie) was a young faculty member at University, Dr H., a recent emigre from Africa, became my mentor and a dear friend. We worked together on many projects, even wrote a book chapter together. She was a regular guest in our home, and we knew all about her family and she knew ours. I owe a lot of my professional success to Dr. H., but also much of who I am today was fostered by our friendship.
Several years ago we both left the University within a few months of each other and moved far apart. We still keep up, but not often.
One Thanksgiving our family decided that the dinner would be made up of dishes that represented people or places that were important to us. I wrote and asked Dr. H. what would be a traditional festival dish for her family, and one of her suggestions was Bobitie. I made it and served it at the party. It was a major success.
Bobotie is a play on a meatloaf, but very unusually flavored and not really slice-able like the meatloaf my mother used to make. It will require a trip to an Indian or Asian market unless your local mega-market has a well stocked international foods aisle, but well worth the effort.
I still make Bobotie from time to time, because it is good, but perhaps for me it is a way to remember and honor my friend and mentor.
Yield: 6-8 servings (When I make it for just the two of us, I cut the recipe in half and it makes a dinner and a nice leftover for us both)
Time: about 60 minutes
Temperature: 180°C (about 350°F) convection
Ingredients
2 slices white bread (I use whatever we have, stale French, sandwich with nuts and seeds, whatever)
2 med onions coarsely chopped
25 g butter (about 6 tbsp)
2-6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 kg lean ground meat (about 2 lbs. We really like the Impossible Meat for this application)
2 tbsp Madras curry paste (or about 1 tsp of curry powder)
1 tsp dried herbs (whatever you have, I like herbs de Provence, but mixed Italian herbs work well too)
3 whole cloves (don't worry about getting them out before serving, they will be completely dissolved)
5 whole all spice berries
2 tbsp peach or mango chutney (sweet or hot as you like, we prefer the spicier version.)
3 tbsp raisins (or dates. Sultanas (bleached raisins) are traditional, but they turn black during cooking so it seems a little silly to search them out for this dish)
6 whole bay leaves (3 to put in the meat mixture (remove before baking) and the rest to decorate the top)
1 tsp salt ( or so, be sure and taste after adding)
to taste ground black pepper
For the topping
300 mL whole milk (about 10 fl. oz.)
2 large eggs
Instructions
Pour cold water over the bread and let it soak while you prepare the meat mixture
Fry the onions in the butter in a large skillet until they are soft and begin to take on color. Add the garlic and the beef. Break up the ground meat and cook until no red color remains. Stir in the curry, herbs, spices, chutney, raisins, bay leaves, salt and pepper
Cover the mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes
Squeeze the water out of the bread, tear into smaller pieces as you add it to the meat mixture. Beat the soggy bread into the meat mixture until well blended
Spoon the meat and bread mixture into a oven safe 9"x12" casserole dish (you might want to coat with Pam or similar to make clean up easier). Press the mixture down well and smooth the top. At this point you can chill this in the refrigerator and finish the next day
To make the topping, beat the eggs until well blended and then stir in the milk. Add a dash or two of salt and pepper, and pour the mixture over the meat
Top with the remaining bay leaves and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the topping is set and starting to turn golden brown