In this video, learn to replicate the bold flavors of South Africa with Chef John’s take on bobotie! This traditional curry-spiced beef casserole is a delicious blend of ground beef, and aromatic spices, topped with a custard layer that bakes to golden perfection. Perfectly sweet, savory, and spiced, this dish is an exciting way to bring global flavors to your table.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Babouti.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you my take on this amazing South African curry beef casserole,
00:13which by the way, we're going to create just using one pan, and you'll probably never guess
00:17it.
00:18But I'm going to tell you later in the video what classic American comfort food this reminds
00:21me of.
00:23So with that, let's go ahead and get started by transferring some onions into some olive
00:26oil and butter that we have set over medium-high heat.
00:31And we'll also go ahead and add all our salt at this point, since when we saute onions,
00:35which is the first step here, that salt draws out moisture, which makes everything happen
00:40a little bit faster.
00:42And by the way, ideally you're going to do this in a pan we can transfer right into the
00:45oven, but you can also do this in any pan and then just transfer everything into a casserole
00:50dish.
00:51So it's not a deal breaker, but if you have one, an oven-safe pan is the way to go.
00:57And what we'll do after we saute those onions for a few minutes and they start to turn translucent,
01:01is stop and add our spices, which we'll start with a big spoon of our favorite curry powder,
01:06or any curry powder you can get your hands on.
01:09We will also do a little bit of turmeric, some ground cumin, or cumin as some folks
01:14call it.
01:15We'll also do some freshly ground black pepper, followed by some dry oregano, which I'm not
01:20sure is authentic, but I like it, so I put it.
01:24And what we'll do is stir all this together, and then saute this another minute or so,
01:29which as you probably know, is going to wake up those spices and just make them a little
01:33more fragrant, and most people think a little more effective.
01:36And once that's been accomplished, we will stop and add the star of the show, a couple
01:41pounds of the best, freshest ground beef you can find, and we'll go ahead and start stirring
01:45that in, breaking it up into small pieces as we do, and I think lean beef would be fine
01:50for this.
01:52But in general, whenever I make in a similar dish, I like to go with the 85% lean to 15%
01:57fat ratio, since that fat does give you a little bit of extra flavor, and, and probably
02:02more importantly, I think a better texture.
02:05But no matter what you use, like I said, we'll go ahead and stir that, breaking it up as
02:09we go, until eventually we've worked that into some fairly fine crumbles.
02:14And once our mixture looks a little something like this, we will stop and add the next set
02:17of ingredients, which will include one bay leaf, which is one of the key flavorings here.
02:23We will also toss in some tomato paste, plus a whole bunch of minced garlic, and then we'll
02:28stir all this together and cook it for about two minutes.
02:31Oh, and if that bay leaf looked a little bit different this time, it's because for this
02:35recipe we're using bay laurel instead of our usual Greek or Turkish bay leaf, since the
02:40bay laurel has a stronger flavor and a more pronounced fragrance, and that's the type
02:45recommended for this dish.
02:47But anyway, like I said, we'll cook that, stirring for a couple minutes, at which point
02:51we'll stop and add almost all the rest of the ingredients, which will include some freshly
02:55squeezed lemon juice, plus some of the zest, since it does come free with the lemon.
03:02I also like to do a little splash of red wine vinegar, or any other vinegar you have, and
03:07we will follow that with a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce.
03:11And then last but not least, we will toss in some fruit chutney, and I'm using your
03:15very common Indian-style mango chutney.
03:19And that's it.
03:20We'll go ahead and stir that in, and reduce our heat down to medium-low.
03:23And the amount of chutney you add depends on how sweet you want this dish, which can
03:27range from pure savory with no sweetness, all the way to super, super sweet.
03:32All right, I've seen recipes use like a half a cup of chutney, plus raisins, plus apricot
03:37jam, which for me is way, way too sweet.
03:40Okay, even with this modest amount I'm stirring in, the dish is fairly sweet, so of course
03:45you'll adjust that if you want.
03:48And then what we'll do once we have all that stirred in, is just let this cook gently on
03:51medium-low for about five minutes, while we prep our last two components.
03:56And for that, we will add three slices of white bread to a bowl, and we will pour over
04:00half a cup of nice, cold, fresh milk.
04:03And what we'll do is give that a quick toss, to make sure those slices are fully saturated.
04:07And yes, it is recommended we cut the crust off the bread, since those tend not to break
04:11down, and you'll actually see chunks of crust in the final product.
04:15Which is not the worst thing, but it's certainly not the best thing.
04:20And that's it, after five minutes we will squeeze out the milk, and we will transfer
04:23that into our pan.
04:25And by the way, don't throw away that milk you squeezed out, we're going to use that
04:28in a minute.
04:30And what we'll do is go ahead and stir, mash, and smash that in, until that bread pretty
04:34much fully disappears.
04:36And by the way, if you're making this for other people, try not to let them walk in
04:40the kitchen during this step.
04:42Alright, this is one of those recipes that doesn't look good, until it does.
04:46And then it looks spectacular.
04:49But at this point, if we're being honest, it's not a great look.
04:53And then what we'll do once that's fully mixed in, is turn off our heat, and we'll smooth
04:57out the surface as evenly as we can.
05:00And we'll add one cup of milk to the bowl we soaked our bread in, along with two large
05:05eggs.
05:06We will also do a few shakes of cayenne, plus a nice big pinch of salt, at which point
05:11we'll take a whisk, and mix this very, very thoroughly.
05:15And the reason we want to mix this very well, is because I think we want a perfect golden
05:19crust over the top.
05:20And if we don't whisk in those egg whites thoroughly, you might see white streaks on
05:24the surface, which I might be the only person that bothers, but probably not.
05:30And that's it, after a very thorough and thoughtful whisking, we'll go ahead and pour that over
05:34the top of our meat.
05:36And we're going to do that semi-gently.
05:37All right, if we just dump this into one spot, the beef would move, and we'd have more of
05:43this beautiful custard in some spots than others.
05:46So we'll take a few extra seconds, and pour that over gently.
05:50And then, as South African tradition dictates, we must top this with extra bay leaves.
05:55And I'm going to use three, which I think is the bare minimum.
05:58But if you did want a more pronounced bay flavor, go ahead and add more.
06:02And that's it, this is now ready to transfer into the center of a 350-degree oven for about
06:0745 minutes.
06:08Oh, and one tip, maybe place the bay leaves on after you put it in the oven, since they
06:13moved when I did that, and I had to reposition.
06:17But anyway, like I said, we'll cook that for about 45 minutes, or until it looks like this.
06:22Oh yeah, that is going to turn some heads.
06:26And that gorgeous appearance is only outdone by the incredible aroma you're going to get
06:29in your kitchen.
06:30I mean, this really does smell so incredible, and you're not going to be able to wait to
06:34dig in.
06:35Although I do like to let it sit for about five minutes before serving.
06:39So that's what I did, before grabbing a spoon and serving some up.
06:43And that, my friends, if you enjoy curried anything, especially curried anything that
06:47has a little touch of sweetness to balance the spices, I think you're really going to
06:50love babouti.
06:52And as good as that meat filling would be on its own, when you combine it with that
06:56very thin, bay leaf infused custard layer on top, it just brings everything together,
07:01and really does make this a truly unique dish.
07:04And again, the flavor profile is definitely sweet.
07:07So if you are concerned about that, just add a tiny bit of that chutney, and then give
07:11things a taste.
07:13And then you can always add more if you want some more sweetness.
07:15So as I said, that's something you might want to adjust, along with, of course, the spice
07:19amounts, or exactly what spices you put in.
07:23I mean, you guys are after all the Marcus Samuelsson, of how this should be done.
07:27Oh, and believe it or not, if you do a version that does have a little sweetness to it, this
07:31has a very similar vibe to sloppy joe.
07:35So if you're a fan of those, and who isn't, you're going to want to try this.
07:40And whether you tweak the recipe to your tastes, or make it exactly as shown, this is an easy,
07:45gorgeous, and extremely delicious one pan meal.
07:47And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:51So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:56more info, as usual.
07:58And, as always, enjoy.