Merry Christmas!
What
are your plans for the Christmas season?
My cookie baking is well underway and I keep praying for rainy days when
it is cool enough to do more baking. It
is so hard to choose which kinds to bake each year! One new recipe on my list to try is
Melomakarona. It is a Greek honey cookie
that I first had at a small shop in Johannesburg. Hopefully, I can make it as nicely as they
did. Chocolate covered is the best!
When
I’m home in the US, my family often tries something fun for our Christmas Eve
meal. Shortly before I moved to South Africa,
I made a South African dish called bobotie (pronounced bo-BO-tee) for our Christmas
Eve dinner and it was amazing! I now
make it here for all my visitors. If you
feel adventurous and would like to try it for your Christmas Eve dinner (or any
other time :), I’ll share the recipe. It
is like a really flavorful meatloaf.
There are lots of ingredients, and some seem really strange together,
but the flavor is totally worth the work.
If you are missing a seasoning or two, don’t let that put you off.
Bobotie
- 1 kg (2.2 pounds) minced lamb or beef
- 30ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) crushed garlic
- 15 ml (1 tablespoon) curry powder
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground turmeric
- 5ml (1 teaspoon) ground coriander
- 2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- 2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground cumin
- 2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- 1.25 ml (1/4 teaspoon) ground ginger
- 2 slices of bread, crumbled
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
- zest and juice of 1/2 small lemon
- 1 egg
- 5 ml (1 teaspoon) salt, milled black pepper
- 100 g (3 ounces) dried apricots, chopped
- 1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored and chopped
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) sultanas (golden raisins – use regular raisons if needed)
- 50 g (1 1/2 ounces) slivered almonds
- 6 bay leaves (or lemon leaves)
- TOPPING
- 250 ml (1 cup) milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt
Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease a large casserole dish with butter or non-stick spray.
Heat
the oil in a skillet and fry the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the spices (curry though ginger) and cook
briefly until fragrant. Remove from the
heat.
Place
the meat in a large bowl and add the cooked onions and garlic. Mix together the bread crumbs and next 8
ingredients (though the almonds) and then add to the meat mixture. Mix well by hand and tip into the casserole
dish. Press down gently and smooth the
top. Bury the bay leaves into the
mixture at regular intervals. Cover with
foil and back for 75 minutes.
Increase
the oven temperature to 400F.
Mix
the topping ingredients together. Remove
the dish from the oven and pour the topping over the meat mixture. Back uncovered for 15 minutes until lightly
browned.
(Adapted
from Rainbow Cuisine by Lannice Snyman)
This recipe is usually served with rice (yellow rice is best) and, if you can find it, a dollop of fruit chutney adds the perfect vinegar kick. The recipe makes a good 8 servings so it’s great for a group or to have plenty of leftovers.
Let me know if you try it! It is still my favorite South African recipe and deserves to have a place in everyone’s recipe collection.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
