This recipe comes from my Curry cook book. Babotie is a spiced minced meal bakes with a savoury custard. According to the book, it was brought to South Africa by Southeast Asian slaves in the 17th Century. Babotie is a tribute to Cape Malay cooking styles and Islamic culinary influences. Boer settlers would bake the Babotie in a hollowed out pumpkin. You can add sultanas, raisins or dried apricots to this recipe to give it your own unique twist. I cooked it without the blanched almonds and a little more curry powder for oomph.

ingredients:

2 slices white bread, crusts removed

125ml milk

2 tablespoons oil

50g butter

2 onions, roughly chopped

2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped

4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

600g lamb mince

2½ teaspoons mild curry powder

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon mango atchar / chutney

1 teaspoon demerara sugar

1 tablespoon blanched almonds, halved

6 bay leaves

for the savoury topping:

2 large eggs

100ml single cream

100ml milk

¼ teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

pinch of grated nutmeg

method:

tear the bread into rough pieces and place in a small bowl and pour over the milk

leave to stand for 10 minutes

heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish and when hot, add the butter

cook the onions and the chillies until the onions are golden

add the garlic and lamb and continue cooking until the mince is browned, stirring frequently

add the spices and lemon zest and cook for a further 5 minutes over a medium heat

squeeze the excess milk from the bread and add the bread to the mince

stir well to break up any lumps and then add the lemon juice, chutney, sugar and almond

remove from the heat and allow to cool

preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius

place the mince into a pie dish and add the bay leaves so that they stick out of the mince

whisk together the eggs, cream and milk and stir in the peppercorns

pour the mixture over the mince and sprinkle with nutmeg

set the dish into a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan halfway with hot water

bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden and set

serve with boiled rice, baked sweet potato, or in a hollowed out bread roll

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Tandy

 

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