Vegetarian Bobotie

Ingredients

5 slices white bread, torn into small pieces salt 375 ml cow’s milk 45 ml sunflower oil 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 eating apples, finely chopped 30 ml sugar 30 ml finely chopped ginger root a little more sunflower oil, if necessary 30 – 45 ml (to taste) mild and aromatic curry powder 20 ml ground cinnamon 10 ml turmeric 10 ml coarsely-crushed cumin seeds 10 ml dried red chili flakes (optional) 500 ml prepared vegetable stock 250 ml Safari Dried Peaches, cut into smaller dice 375 ml butternut, cut into 1 cm dice 250 ml green beans, sliced in 1 cm pieces 250 ml baby marrow, cut into 1 cm dice 65 ml fruity chutney 1 x 425 can of whole corn kernels, drained 250 ml Safari Seedless Raisins 400 ml cooked and drained brown lentils (canned lentils will do) ground white pepper 15 ml chopped garlic (optional) 5 jumbo eggs 1 x 420 g can light coconut milk 65 ml chopped coriander leaves 5 lemon or bay leaves

Method

Place the bread into a bowl and sprinkle with 5 ml of the salt. Pour in about 200 ml of the cow’s milk (reserve the rest), stir well, cover and set aside until required.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and apple and sauté until golden then add the sugar and ginger and sauté a further minute or so. If you want to use more oil, add a little before adding the curry powder, turmeric, cumin and chili flakes, if using. Stir-fry for a minute to cook out the floury taste.

Add the stock and dried peaches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the peaches are beginning to soften and plump out. Now add the butternut and simmer for another 10 minutes or until the butternut feels tender. Add the green beans and baby marrow and simmer until cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the chutney, corn, raisins, lentils and garlic (if using) and increase heat. Cook rapidly without a lid until the cooking liquids have almost reduced completely, leaving just enough liquid to create a juicy ‘stew’.

Now add the bread mixture and stir until the bottom of pan forms a brown crust. Stir in the lemon juice, scraping up the browned bits from bottom. Remove the saucepan from the heat and season the mixture well with salt and pepper.

Allow the mixture to cool down a little then whisk in two of the eggs. Transfer the mixture to a large, deep oven-safe serving dish that’s been sprayed with non-stick spray and bake in the oven preheated to 180º C for 15 minutes.

To make a custard layer, whisk together the remaining cow’s milk and eggs, the coconut milk and the chopped coriander. Carefully pour the mixture over the back of a large spoon onto the vegetable-lentil layer.

Stick the lemon or bay leaves pointing upwards into the vegetable-lentil layer and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the custard is set.

Remove the Bobotie from the oven and let it stand for 20 minutes to settle before serving it with yellow raisin rice and a spicy tomato sambal.

Serves 8 generously

#vegetarian #bobotie