Food & Recipes

Cape Bobotie

Published November 3, 2011

If you take an English cottage pie, remove the mash and mix it with a medium Indian curry, you get an approximation of what bobotie tastes like. It is a difficult dish to describe to somebody that has never tried it. “Curried Mince” simply does not describe this unique and tasty dish from the Cape.

Served with a little chutney, it will lure you into eating food a little more spicy, you will have delicious left overs on toast for breakfast, and you will be left with the lovely warm and full feeling that only a good meal can do. Spicy, yet not hot. A curry, but not quite. Mince, but not a cottage pie. I love bobotie, it is one of the most tasty meals that you will experience.

Ok, now for the test: one of these was made with beef mince, and the other with vege mince. Which one is which? Leave a comment and guess.

To simplify, make a mince curry, mix in a few slices of bread, pour on an egg crust and bake.

Here’s my mom’s recipe

Ingredients:

375ml milk
2 slices of brown bread (no crusts), soaked in the milk
2 onions
2 cloves garlic (like I will only use 2)
25ml curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
25ml chutney
12.5ml apricot jam
12.5ml Worchester sauce
5ml turmeric
25ml vinager
500g mince
1 egg
2 bayleaves
A few raisons (if you want)

Directions:

Lightly brown the onions
Add the mince and garlic and brown
Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the milk and bread) and mix in
Add the soaked break, but keep the milk & mix in
Add a few raisons if you like (not for me though)
Put the mince mix into a casserole dish
Break the egg into the left over milk and mix
Pour the milk and egg mixture over the mince, and place the bayleaves on top
Back for 40 minutes

That’s it! While it sounds a little complicated, it is really easy to make, but oh so yummy! The almonds are not part of the recipe, but I love to add a few slivers on top before baking.

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, Food & Recipes |

Tagged bobotie, Cape Town, food |

Tomato tart with gruyere pastry

Published September 25, 2011

We are supposed to be at Kirstenbosch Gardens having a birthday picnic with our friend Sarah, but alas I am having an acute and sudden dose of pollen allergy, so I don’t think that an afternoon in the botanical gardens in spring is such a good idea.

However, our contribution to the picnic was going to be a baby tomatoe tart with gruyere pastry, which Lois still made for lunch.

It is really simple to make and very yummy. Here is the recipe:

Fry 1 chopped onion and 4 cloves chopped garlic
Mix about 800 g baby tomatos with 1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cup chopped basil, 1.5t sugar, and a little salt and pepper
Mix in the onion/garlic mixture
Put the tomatos mixture into a ceramic pie dish
Cover dish with puff pastry from the supermarket
Brush some egg over the pasty
Finally sprinkle about 1/2 cup finely gruyere cheese over the top
Bake at 180 for about an hour, and leave to stand for a few mintues before cutting

Serve hot or cold. Yummy indeed!

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, Food & Recipes, Food and Drink |

Tagged food, gruyere, tart, tomatoes |

3 Comments

Burgers at the River Café, Constantia Uitsig

Published March 6, 2011

I seem to be eating out awfully often at the moment, and try as we do to stay at home, there always seems to be a really good reason to go out.

Today, it was lunch at the River Café with my good friends Nick and Jeanne, who are at the moment sitting on a flight back to the UK, so it was out last chance to see them in a while.

The River Café is a lovely restaurant at the entrance of Constantia Uitsig Wine farm. Although I have not been there in a while, the service and food were fantastic. The staff managed to maintain the fine balance between being there when they were needed, and not quite getting in the way. While they have a simple and small menu, there is a good variety of tasty and interesting foods.

I started with Won-ton parcels, with a side-salad of veges stir-fried in peanut oil. While the parcels were a little oily, they were tasty and firm; and the veges were fantastic. You could have ordered just the veges as a main course (they were that good!).

Now I know that a burger for main course sounds really boring, but in this type of restaurant you can be assured that you will not get a boring burger, and I was not disappointed. It was succulent, juicy and tasty. The home-made tomatoe relish was wonderful, and this was definitely one of the best burgers that I have had in a long time.

Lois had Gazpacho, which she proclaimed as very good, and both Nick and Jeanne had the fish, which was equally praised. On the downside, the restaurant is not the cheapest place to eat, but the food and service are good. While there are a few vegetarian options (for Lois), the selection is not huge.

However, if you want to go somewhere for a really good meal, this is a place to consider.

No doubt I will be blogging about another restaurant next week :-)

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, Food & Recipes, Restaurants |

Tagged burgers, Cape Town, constantia, food, Restaurants, river café |

Ice cold cider at Peddlars on the Bend

Published February 28, 2011

Nothing like an ice cold cider to quench your (well at least Lois’) thirst at Lunch (I had a beer). We had lunch on Sunday at Peddlars on the Bend, a wonderful restaurant that has both stood the test of time, and the test of a fire. The entire restaurant almost burnt down a few years ago. But thankfully it survived, and after major repairs has been open ever since.

The outside garden area at Peddlars on the Bend

They still have one of the best bars and outside seating in Cape Town, and a wonderful (but more formal) restaurant inside. We spent a leasurely afternoon with some friends enjoying a beer or two, and an amazing meal. The staff are attentive but out of the way, and at about R80-R100 for most main courses, excellent value as well. There is also something for almost anybody; a very well thought-out menu.

Stacked Aubergine starter

Roasted Eisbein, not a small meal

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, Food & Recipes, Restaurants |

Tagged Cape Town, cider, food, peddlars, Restaurants |

5 Comments

Yummy baby garlic

Published February 22, 2011

Look at the baby garlic that we received in our last vegetable delivery. Each head is tiny, only about 2cm in height, but they are so tasty. We put two complete heads into a pasta sauce (which is probably equivalent to about four cloves of regular garlic).