A typical South African dish, mingling Cape Malay spices with the sweet flavours of dried fruits and left over Sunday roast... tales from the past say that the slaves working in the Boer kitchens developed the recipe to accommodate the left overs roast lamb from the previous Sunday lunch. Today the recipe has been adapted to use minced beef or lamb. There is also a fish version and I now replace the minced meat with green lentils, TVP or ground seitan for a delicious vegetarian version. Don't hesitate to play around with the spices to accommodate your palate.
Ingredients:
- 1kg minced meat or 4 cups uncooked lentils
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 1 slice of bread
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 125g raisins
- 125g slivered almonds
- 3t apricot jam
- 2T spicy chutney
- 2T tomato paste
- 1t mixed herbs
- 2t ground coriander
- 1t turmeric
- 2T Madras curry powder
- 3 eggs
- 250ml milk
- 4/5 bay leaves
- a little nutmeg
Method:
Lightly fry onion in a large non-stick pan. Add the lentils (or TVP or meat) Soak bread in 125ml of the milk; squeeze dry and add to lentils (or TVP, meat). Add the spices and sweat for a few minutes. Mix in all other ingredients except remaining milk, eggs and bay leaves. Simmer for about 20 minutes, the time for all the flavours to infuse. Preheat your oven to 180°C.
In the meantime, prepare the "custard", beat or place in a blender, the eggs, milk and a little nutmeg.
Grease an ovenproof dish, scoop in all the mixture from the pan and pour over the custard. Decorate with the bay leaves. Bake at 180°C for at least 30 minutes or until set.
Serve with Basmati rice and chutney.
Serve with Basmati rice and chutney.
