South African Bobotie

Bobotie, except that it has no egg topping and it's a little runny.  Very tasty though!

We're having an around-the-world week here at the Dude2 household this week.  Our first excursion was to Louisiana with smothered pork roast, and now we're off to South Africa for their national dish, Bobotie.  I've never had Bobotie before, and there was no picture in the cookbook (150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes), so I have no idea if this was done right or not.  It tastes good though!

I had a couple of issues when making this dish.  First, I discovered at exactly the wrong moment that I didn't have any eggs.  Second, because I had no idea what it should look like, I decided it looked way too dry and added some beef stock.  I still think this was a good idea, but I have adjusted the recipe a bit from what I did.  I used a full quart of beef stock, making the dish into a stew.  I think it's supposed to be more of a firm casserole kind of affair after doing a little Internet research, so I have changed my change so that you should get that kind of result.

South African Bobotie (serves 6 to 8):

1. 2 Tbsp cooking fat (I used grass fed tallow)
2. 2 lbs grass fed ground beef
3. 2 medium onions, diced
4. 4 cloves garlic, minced
5. 2 Tbsp curry powder
6. 1 tsp sea salt
7. 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
8. 1/2 C. unsulphured dried apricots, coarsely chopped
9. 1 C. bread crumbs
10. 1-1/2 C. beef stock
11. 2 eggs, beaten
12. 1/2 C. cream

Soak the bread crumbs in the beef stock.  I didn't do this, but I have a strong suspicion that this is a missing step in the cookbook.  I actually added the breadcrumbs dry, then when I saw that it wasn't going to build any moisture I added a full quart of beef stock.  By trial and error, I think that soaking the breadcrumbs first will yield the right consistency.

Put half the cooking fat into a skillet large enough to hold all the beef and heat it over medium-high heat.  When the pan is hot, add the beef and crumble it into a loose crumble. Cook until it's no longer pink, but not much beyond that:

Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.  Add the remaining fat to the skillet and put in the onions.  Cook them until they're soft, then add the garlic, curry powder, salt, and pepper and cook for an additional minute, then remove from heat:

Add the apricots and bread crumbs to the onion mixture and mix well.  Add this mixture to the meat in the slow cooker.  You can see how dry it looks in the picture below.  The instructions in the cookbook refer to this mixture being "hot and bubbling," which is why I decided it needed some liquid added.  I did let it cook for a few hours first just to see if some liquid would appear out of the onions or something, but that didn't happen.

Let this mixture cook on low for 6-8 hours, then mix the cream and eggs and layer it on top.  Turn the cooker to high and cook for another half hour to set the top.  I don't have a picture of this because I didn't have any eggs, so I just added the cream and kind of mixed it in.