It was the Romans and the Persians, not the Indonesians (as is commonly thought) that were responsible for bobotie as it was made at the Cape during Jan van Riebeeck’s rule. The Malay influence, in the form of the spices, turned the dish into a Cape speciality. The Dutch and by implication the French had a profound influence on cooking in the days of the early Cape, simply because the French were the leaders in all matters culinary in Europe at that time.  Bobotie, then, was made on an open fire, probably from left over meat in much the same way as Apicius did in Rome.

The earliest reference to bobotie can be found in a cookbook published in 1609 – quite a few years before there were any signs of Jan and his settlers at the Cape – in other words, it arrived at the Cape with the Dutch. The pots in which the bobotie was prepared were special, not used for every day cooking because the dish was carried to the table in the same pots that  were mainly copper with lids, on top of which coals were placed to keep the dish warm and to complete the cooking process – since an egg custard was placed on top of the bobotie at the end of the cooking process. Where the South African cooking differs from that of Apicius is in the use of the spices. Pine nuts (as opposed to the almonds used today) and raisins were commonly used in Roman food. This recipe is huge and more than enough for a good sized executive dinner – make ahead and simply add the custard on the day of the dinner.

Ingredients

• 3 kg lamb or beef mince
• 250 g blanched almonds
• 1 tsp  tamarind paste
• 285 ml  good-quality red wine
• 24 black peppercorns, crushed
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 8 allspice berries
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, dry roasted
• 5 hot chillies, finely chopped
• 20 coriander seeds, crushed
• 3 tsp turmeric
• 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 large lemon, grated zest only
• 100 g sultanas
• 285 ml double cream
• 125 g unsalted butter, softened
• 8 bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• butter, for greasing

Custard

• 565 ml milk
• 10 eggs, whisked
• 2 tbsp strong curry
• freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put all the ingredients for the meat, exepting the butter, the cream, the bay leaves and the wine  into a bowl and  mix everything, kneading the meat and spices together thoroughly.
• Combine the tamarind and the wine until the tamarind is incorporated into the wine.
• Pour the tamarind and red wine mixture into the meat and then add the cream and 125 g  butter.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper, roll up the bayleaves and pop them into the meat so that half of the roll is in the meat and half sticks out.
• Butter the sides and bottom of an earthenware or other oven dish, big enough to hold the meat with enough space for the custard – the meat mixture must not be too stiff.
• Put the meat mixture into the preheated oven for about an hour until cooked – then remove.
• Once the meat is out of the oven, whisk together the milk and the eggs, add salt and pepper and the curry and check and correct the seasoning.
• Pour the custard mixture over the top of the meat, return to the oven and bake until the custard topping has set and golden brown in colour.