Food has always been an integral part of Anna Carolina Alberts' life. In her new book, Butter & Love the food stylist serves up a smorgasbord of treats from her Afrikaans heritage.
This Valentine's Day, Alberts is going to make her dude's favourite bobotie and she shared her recipe with us.
Bobotie
¼ cup milk
2 slices white bread, crusts cut off
2 tbs sunflower oil
2 tsp butter
500g beef mince
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 carrots (or 2 sour apples),
peeled and grated
3 tsp curry powder
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbs chopped fresh herbs, like oregano
2 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
½ cup raisins
salt and freshly milled black pepper
to taste
Topping
2 eggs
1 cup thick sour cream
(or buttermilk or amasi)
½ tsp salt
4 bay leaves
a few thin lemon slices (or a little lemon zest)
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Pour milk into a shallow dish and soak bread slices in it.
Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over high heat, add mince and cook until brown. Add onion and garlic to the meat and cook until the onion is soft. Add carrot, all the spices and the sugar, and cook for about 5 minutes.
Mash the soaked bread with a fork and add it to the pan with the lemon juice and raisins. Season to taste and spoon into an oven-to-table dish.
To make the topping, beat eggs and sour cream together. Season to taste and pour over the mince. Insert bay leaves into the meat here and there and arrange lemon slices on top.
Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Serve with yellow rice.
Serves 4-6.
Variations: Substitute lamb for the beef mince. And for a low-carb version, leave the bread out and replace with rolled oats or almond flour.