This dish is very popular in South Africa. It’s rumoured origins are that it first appeared in a Dutch cookbook dating back to 1609 or thereabouts and taken to South Africa by the Dutch settlers. The Malays in South Africa then adopted it as a traditional curried dish and I’m sure they definitely improved it! It is basically cooked curried ground beef topped with an egg custard and baked casserole style.

It’s a really hearty and delicious dish, great for when you are having friends over for supper.

Bobotie

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 onions, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 thumb ginger finely chopped or 2 tsp ground
• 3 tsp curry (mild usually but of course you can spice it up, but it’s not meant to be very 🌶🌶🌶!
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp paprika
• Salt and pepper to your taste
• Meanwhile:
• Soak: 2 hearty slices keto bread in cream – enough cream to just cover sliced bread

Then

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• Prepare 1 mashed banana
• 1 tin tomato paste or diced canned tomato
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp keto apricot jam or chutney
• 2 tbsp keto friendly sugar
• 1 tsp thyme

Custard Topping

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup cream or milk
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• Saffron threads about 13
• Bay/Lemon leaves – these last two ingredients just look so good but entirely optional

Melt the butter, add the spices, cook the onions until glossy and then add the garlic and ginger.

Don’t forget to start off with soaking your bread!

Add the ground meat to the onions, breaking up and crumbling it up nicely. Cook until just tender and done. Add the tomato, stirring in, then the rest of the listed ingredients. Lastly, smoosh the bread and cream mix and stir it in very well until distributed. This would normally be stale white bread, by the way, to bulk it out and give some body.

To make the custard topping beat all ingredients very well, until nicely blended and no lumps of egg at all.

Press down the meat mixture in the skillet with a spoon and smooth over or transfer to a buttered casserole dish and press down very well and evenly.

Gently pour over custard as a topping on the meat. Sprinkle over saffron or extra turmeric powder, and press in the leaves.

Bake in 350°F for about 40 minutes or until egg custard is well browned.

Serve with roasted veg or if you want to go traditional and carb loaded for your friends, with yellow rice. Basically yellow rice is a nice jasmine or long grain rice cooked the usual method just add 1 tsp turmeric and 1/2 cup raisins to the water at the first sign of boiling and at the end of the cooking 2 tbl butter stirred in and fluffed up in the rice. It’s fantastic rice!

This recipe may seem fiddly, but oh sooo delicious. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients – as long as you have the spices, or grate in an apple or pear instead of banana for the sweetness.

I hope you enjoy!