Isn’t it funny what foods kids love and loathe? I remember a kid who refused to eat mushrooms because they “looked like poo”, and my brother refused to eat spanspek (cantaloupe melon) because it made him feel “funny”. But I was clearly an odd kid. Most kids didn’t like olives – they are salty, contain pips ideal for choking on and are generally not child-friendly at all. Me on the other hand – I was BORN liking olives! My mom was fond of telling a story about how she and my dad took me along as a 2-year old on a “cruise to nowhere” (bunch of my dad’s radiologist colleagues cruising out of Cape Town, spending 2 days at sea & cruising back). The cruise wasn’t really for kids but the crew made an effort with me and produced some kiddie meals – I can only imagine the Vienna-sausage-and-fried-egg smiley faces. But I wasn’t interested. Not a kiddie morsel passed my lips. All I ate for the entire duration of the cruise was 2 big bowls of olives. Believe it… or not! So what did I hate, then? That staple food of mothers starting their firstborns on solids – bananas. Ugh. To this day, don’t bring them near me. I spat them out when I was a baby and I’ll spit them out now (unless they are cunningly disguised as banana bread or banana muffins…!).
When I was about 4, my mother bought me the most fabulous book – Dr Seuss’s “My Book About Me”. Every page had something for you to fill in – your name, your age, your height, a drawing of your hand, the name of your best friend, your favourite animal (inexplicably, a frog). There was also a bit about: “My favourite food is _____________. And please don’t give me any ______________.” So what did the 4-year-old me love most? That bland staple of bain-marie-served mass catering: chicken a la king! Who knows how a 5-year old’s palate works… And what did I detest above all? Bobotie: a lightly curried mince dish of Cape Malay origin, traditionally served on yellow rice studded with raisins.
When the Dutch, led by Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company, arrived at the Cape in 1652 they found that to work the land they would need slaves, as the indigenous people were none too interested in slaving for the colonists. The first Malay (the term “Maylay” indicates Muslim belief and tradition, but not any particular place of origin) slaves arrived from Java and various Indonesian islands in 1658. There is a very interesting and comprehensive piece written about the slaves and their influence on Afrikaans cuisine and language available here. Being slaves, the Malays often ended up in the Dutch kitchens and their influence remains apparent in dishes such as bobotie. The origins of the name are not clear, but the curried spice, turmeric-yellow rice and the use of fruit in a meat dish are all indicative of this dish’s Malay roots. Incidentally, descendants of these early slaves still live in Cape Town in the historic Bokaap, or Malay Quarter, on the slopes of Signal Hill in Cape Town, where they originally settled. I have often stood on my sister’s balcony in the Bokaap listening to the wonderful calls to prayer from the mosques in the area and dreaming of faraway lands.
And so at last we get to the recipe. There are dozens of variations – the one I have included below was posted by Sean Borman, who obtained it from the Kaapse Tafel restaurant in Cape Town. If you are in a hurry and can’t be bothered to source all the spices, there is an easy way too – simply buy a Nice ‘n Spicy bobotie spice pack which comes complete with instructions and all the spices you need! Ideal for the lazy gourmet… and you can buy off the Net!
(Oh, and by the way, I now love bobotie – started liking it in my teens. And I have never figured out why I hated it so much when I was 5.)
BOBOTIE (serves 4 to 6 people)
Ingredients:
1kg lamb mince (or you can mix lamb and beef)
1 large onion
1 tablespoon oil
1 thick slice stale bread without the crust
1 cup milk (approximately)
1 tablespoon smooth apricot jam
juice of half a lemon (or you can add more if you like it less sweet)
10-12 dried apricots (optional)
2 tablespoons seedless raisins
15 blanched almonds (ie. with skin removed)
1 teaspoon curry powder (more if you prefer it stronger, but the dish is meant to have a mild curried flavour)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger grated
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
6 lemon leaves (or 3 bay leaves)
2 eggs
milk
Method:
1. Lightly fry chopped onion in oil till golden. Add chopped garlic and grated ginger. Remove from heat when all have softened.
2. Soak bread in half a cup of milk. Crumble with a fork. Add to the mince and mix well.
3. Place pot on stove. Add a little oil if the onion has absorbed it all. Put meat and all other ingredients except the rest of the milk, the bay/lemon leaves and the eggs.
4. Stir vigorously to avoid lumps of meat! Cook until the mince is cooked through and no longer pink.
5. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat mixture to a baking dish about with sides about 5cm high – this avoids a watery bobotie. Make sure you taste at this stage to correct seasonings and add more of anything you think is lacking. Check that there is not too much water in the baking dish. The meat should not be dry but there should not be any gravy at the bottom.
6. Beat the two eggs. Add 1 cup of milk plus what is left of the milk in which the bread had been soaked. Total should not exceed one and a half cups. Mix well and add salt and pepper.
7. After beating it well, pour milk and egg mixture over the monce mixture. Place bay/lemon leaves or substitute bay leaves and a little lemon rind (if desired) on top.
8. Bake uncovered in moderate oven (180-190C) for 30 to 40 minutes, until the egg mixture has become set. Serve piping hot with the yellow rice – see recipe below. Make sure you have some Mrs Ball’s chutney near at hand!
YELLOW RICE (serves 4 people)
Ingredients:
2 cups rice
4 cups water
2 Tbs oil (approx)
turmeric
salt
raisins – as many or few as you like
Method:
1. Heat oil a little. Add rice and stir till coated.
2. Add water & salt, then the raisins & turmeric (add a little at a time until the water looks distinctly yellow!)
3. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15 min, covered and on low heat, simmer.
4. When most of the water is absorbed. Switch off stove & let the rice swell on the cooling plate. Check for consistency (rice should retain a slight chewiness), drain and serve.
A version of this post has also appeared on my blog, CookSister!
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