Bobotok, an Indonesian recipe, was brought to South Africa by Indonesians aboard Dutch East India Company spice ships. It transformed into the traditional South African dish known as bobotie, a sweet and tangy meat pie with an egg topping, often garnished with bananas, chutney, sambal, and shelled nuts. To make it, soak stale bread in hot water, cook onions, mix with ground meat, lemon juice, turmeric, and sugar, bake, and top with a mixture of egg and milk. Malays used leftover meat to make bobotie, which South Africans adopted as their own.
In the seventeenth century, the Indonesian bobotok recipe was transported by Indonesians aboard Dutch East India Company spice ships which also carried Malay slaves to South Africa. Over time, bobotok transformed into the traditional South African dish known as bobotie. Ground lamb, pork, or beef combined with different herbs and spices, and sometimes dried fruits, make for a sweet and tangy meat pie that features an egg topping. Bananas, chutney, a spicy fruit relish, sambal, a chilli condiment, and shelled nuts are often used to garnish bobotie. Boiled rice and a green salad usually complete the meal.
To make a simple bobotie that’s quite similar to the original recipe, start by peeling the crusts off two slices of stale white bread and dipping them in two tablespoons (30 mL) of hot water. While the bread is soaking, heat two tablespoons (30 mL) of cooking oil in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, add a thinly sliced onion to the hot oil. Cook the onion until soft and golden. After cooking, remove them from the oil and set them aside.
Next, lightly beat two eggs and add them to one pound (about 454 g) of ground beef, lamb, or pork. This is followed by the addition of the cooked onion, hot water, two tablespoons (30 ml) of lemon juice, the soaked white bread, crumbled, one teaspoon (5 g) of turmeric and two tablespoons (30 g) of sugar for the meat and egg mixture. All of these ingredients are mixed very thoroughly and placed in a greased glass baking dish and baked in a 325 degrees Fahrenheit (163 degrees Celsius) oven for approximately 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. At this stage, the dish is removed from the oven and the dressing is poured.
To make the topping, one egg and one-half cup (125 mL) of milk are combined, beaten together, and poured over the cooked bobotie. The cook arranges several bay or lemon leaves before placing the boboties back in a 350-degree Fahrenheit (176.7-degree Celsius) oven until the egg topping is set. After removing the bobotie from the oven, let it rest for five minutes. To serve, cut the bobotie into 10cm x 10cm squares and garnish with sambal, chutney, bananas and shelled walnuts. Rice and a green salad are often served as a side dish.
The first recipes for this dish came from Indonesia in the 1500s. Malay spices and slaves were brought to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company. Malay people used leftover meat from Sunday dinner and made bobotie to eat the following day. South Africans took notice and adopted the recipe for this tasty dish as their own.
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