Classic South African Babotie Recipe (Beef)
Babotie Ingredients, To make a classic South African Babotie you will need:
â– 2 - 2 1/4 pounds good quality lean ground beef
â– 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
â– 2 peeled and sliced onions
â– 1 thickish slice of white bread
â– 1 cup milk
â– 1 tablespoon medium curry powder - you can also have hot if you wish
â– 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
â– 2 teaspoons salt
â– freshly grated pepper (about a half teaspoon)
â– 3/4 teaspoon turmeric
â– 1 1/2 tablespoons malt vinegar
â– 1/2 cup seedless raisins
â– 2 tablespoons strong chutney (Mrs balls Mango is the best for this)
â– 2 bay leaves (or fresh lemon leaves if available)
â– 2 medium eggs
To make Babotie, first preheat the oven to about 180 C
Heat the oil in a saucepan add the onions and cook until soft. Add your minced beef and cook through.
During this time, soak your bread in the milk, remove excess milk (not all of it) and then mash the bread with the fork. Keep the milk as you will need it later.
Add your bread, curry powder, sugar, salt, pepper, turmeric, vinegar, raisins, chutney to the beef mixture and cook for a few minutes. Becareful, because of the bread it can easily burn.
Once cooked, spoon the mixture into a baking dish, and place the bay leaves on top. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes. Meanwhile beat the eggs into the milk mixture and then carefully pour over the beef mixture about 25 minutes before the end of the baking time, this will form a lovely crust on the top.
Serve the Babotie with steamed yellow rice, sliced bananas and extra chutney.