Bobotie is one of the proudest and oldest South African recipes. It was influenced and inspired by the slaves that came to South Africa. They brought with them their great spices and flavours, and Bobotie was invented!

Ingredients:

2 large onions
2 tablespoons butter
1 thick slice of white bread
1 cup milk
1 kg mutton (minced beef can be used as substitute)
2 tablespoons strong curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons apricot jam
2 almonds, quartered
cup lemon juice (or vinegar)
2 teaspoons salt
teaspoon white pepper
cup seedless raisins
1 green apple, grated
10 dried apricots, soaked and cut up (or apricot jam)
4 lemon leaves or dried bay leaves
2 eggs

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Lightly fry the onions in the butter.

2. Soak the bread in half the milk and mash with a fork.

3. Mix the meat with all of the ingredients except for the eggs, the rest of the milk and bay/lemon leaves.

4. Put the mixture in an oven proof dish. Push the lemon/bay leaves in on the top.

5. Cover and bake for about 40 minutes.

6. Beat the eggs and milk together and pour over the meat. Slightly lift it to allow the egg to run into the bobotie. Bake until brown on top (about 15 20 minutes).

To serve:

Serve bobotie with yellow rice and raisins. Side dishes that go great with bobotie and yellow rice are vegetables like green beans and sweet potato, or try potato salad.

Lizel Salter

My name is Lizel and I was born in South Africa. I am VERY proud to call myself South African. I love my country and want to describe to the world how I feel about the people, food and landscapes.

This is the main reason why I wrote my traditional South African recipe book. All the recipes are recipes I grew up with, that were passed on to me by my mother and from generation to generation.

In 2004 I married the man of my dreams, a great Englishman. We are living in England at the moment, trying to visit South Africa at least once a year. I started writing articles for this article site to share what I know best.

I hope that I am successful in sharing with you a piece of my heart, part of my soul. I love South Africa, and I want you to experience it in the same way I do!