Mains
Bobotie
Spiced mince and dried fruit under a baked egg custard, in print at the Cape by 1870 and cooked in Cape Malay and Afrikaans kitchens alike.
- TraditionCape Malay
- Kind of dishMains
- SeasonAll year
- OccasionAny day of the week
The story
Minced meat, usually lamb or beef, is lightly curried and cooked with dried fruit and chopped almonds, then baked under a savoury egg custard. Bobotie comes to the table with yellow rice, often studded with raisins, and a spoonful of fruit chutney, and it is cooked in Cape Malay and Afrikaans kitchens alike.
The dish was in print at the Cape by 1870, and in 1891 Hildegonda Duckitt's recipe book called it a delicate Indian minced curry. Food historians have not settled where it came from. The Dictionary of South African English traces the name to the Malay word for curry spices. Others link it to bobotok, an Indonesian dish with an egg topping, or to a European mince dish that enslaved cooks at the Cape seasoned with Eastern spices.
Stories
Related reading
Sources
Check out these sources
- bobotie, n. · Dictionary of South African English (Rhodes University Dictionary Unit)
- Cape Malay recipes have had a lasting and delicious impact on how SA eats · Sunday Times
- The complex history of Cape Muslim cuisine (Ishay Govender) · Daily Maverick
- The bittersweet (and spicy) history of South African cuisine (Tony Karon) · Explore Parts Unknown
- South Africa's heritage foods you can still taste on the road (Lee-Ann Steyn) · Getaway
