Bobotie (South African curried beef bake)
South Africa’s national dish: gently curried beef with apple and raisins, baked under a savory golden custard and served with yellow rice.
- 75 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $1.96 a serving
- 490 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 2 slices white bread
- 1 cup milk, divided
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1½ tbsp curry powder
- 1 apple, grated
- ⅓ cup raisins, divided
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground turmeric, divided
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1¾ tsp salt, divided
- 3 bay leaves
- 2¼ cups water
Each serving has about 490 calories, 23 g protein, 61 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $1.96 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No raisins? Dried cranberries work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 350°F. Tear the bread into a bowl and pour ½ cup milk over it to soak.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
the butter in a large over medium and cook the onion 5 minutes, until soft.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the beef, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, curry powder and ½ teaspoon turmeric for 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Squeeze the bread and add it to the pan (pour the milk it soaked in back into the measuring cup). Stir in the apple, most of the raisins, the brown sugar, vinegar and 1¼ teaspoons salt.
Dolly’s tip: The grated apple stands in for the traditional fruit chutney and keeps the meat moist.Spread the mixture in a 9x9-inch baking dish and press it level.
the eggs with all the milk and of salt, pour it over the meat, and tuck the bay leaves into the top.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
35 minutes, until the custard is set and at the edges.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 35 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
While it bakes, the rice and put it in a with the water, remaining turmeric and raisins, and ¼ teaspoon salt. over high.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Fish out the bay leaves, cut the bobotie into squares, and serve with the yellow rice.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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