Bobotie with dried apricots and cashew nuts (picture by Nina Timm)

A respected and well-loved fellow blogger, Nina Timm from www.my-easy-cooking.com, invited me to a cook-along at her house on Tuesday. Myself and 2 other bloggers, Ishay Govender-Ypma from www.foodandthefabulous.com and Jane-Ann Hobbs from www.scrumptious.co.za, were asked to create festive recipes using Safari dried fruit and nuts. Martelize Brink from RSG joined us and recorded a few snippets while we were cooking. You can listen to Nina and Martelize live on RSG from 09h00 on Thursday morning, discussing my recipe for bobotie.

This is my spin on a traditional bobotie, using dried apricots instead of raisins, and adding cashew nuts for extra flavour and texture. It was such a hit! I can recommend that you experiment with different dried fruit and nuts – apples, peaches or prunes will also work well, or try almonds instead of cashews.

Ingredients: (serves 4 – to make a larger bobotie, just double all the ingredients)

  • 30 ml (2 T) vegetable oil
  • Finely chopped: 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 t freshly grated ginger root
  • Dry spices: 2 t mild curry powder, ½ t turmeric, ½ t fine coriander, ½ t fine cumin, ½ t fine cinnamon
  • 500 g lean beef mince
  • salt and pepper
  • Flavourants: 1 T lemon juice, 2 T chutney, 2 T fine apricot jam, 1 T Worcestershire sauce, 1 T tomato paste
  • 1 slice of bread, processed to fine crumbs, soaked in water
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) finely chopped dried apricots
  • 100 g cashew nuts, chopped (not too finely)
  • 4 bay leaves

Top layer:

  • 250 ml coconut milk (or use regular milk)
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper

Method:

  1. In a heavy based pot over medium heat, add the oil, then fry the onion, garlic and ginger untill soft and translucent but not brown.
  2. Add the dry spices and fry for 1 minute (the bottom of the pot will look very dry, don’t worry about it)
  3. Add the mince, then fry untill it has changed colour, taking care not to brown it too much. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Add all flavourants, along with the soaked breadcrumbs, chopped apricots and chopped cashews. Stir well, then cover, and let it simmer on low heat for 20-25 minutes. This mixture burns very easily, so check on it every 5 minutes and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to prevent burning.
  5. Remove from heat, then transfer to an ovenproof dish and flatten the surface. Press in the bay leaves.
  6. In a separate bowl, lightly mix the eggs with the coconut milk, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Pour over mince mixture. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes, or until the top layer is set and golden brown.
  7. Serve with rice, extra chutney, desiccated coconut, sliced bananas, tomato sambal,  or any other sambals of your choice.
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10 Comments

  1. YUM. I wish you’d made double because I loved it.

    1. Ja, much too small for the 4 of us! Double is always better.

  2. Cashew nuts are missing? How much? When does one add it to the rest of the ingredients??

    1. Hi Mariet, my apologies, I just corrected the recipe! I used 100 g cashews, chopped, and added them with the chopped apricots to the meat – see the recipe with the corrected steps. Thanks for letting me know! Happy cooking. x

  3. […] and talented Nina Timm of My Easy Cooking  invited myself, Jane-Anne of Scrumptious and Ilse of  The Food Fox to spend a morning cooking in her kitchen with some Safari Dried Fruit and Nut products. I chose to […]

  4. […] talented Nina Timm of My Easy Cooking  invited myself, Jane-Anne of Scrumptious and Ilse of  The Food Fox to spend a morning cooking in her kitchen with some Safari Dried Fruit and Nut products. I chose […]

  5. […] show a while back with her delicious Chicken Nectarine Salad.This time she shares her two recipes: Bobotie with dried apricots and cashew nuts and Malva pudding with dates and pecan nuts. Old classics with new twists, but they were both […]

  6. I can’t wait to make this one for my family. It looks so delicious and amazing. Is it okay if I am going to add some dried fruits?

    1. Of course Alona, you can add whichever dried fruits you love!

  7. […] and talented Nina Timm of My Easy Cooking  invited myself, Jane-Anne of Scrumptious and Ilse of  The Food Fox to spend a morning cooking in her kitchen with some Safari Dried Fruit and Nut products. I chose to […]

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