Bobotie baked in a hollowed-out pumpkin
This bobotie is cheap, easy to make and, best of all, you’ll have one less pot to wash.
Like all family recipes worth their salt, there’s a story behind this one. It all began on a family camping trip. We had planned to have mince on pita for supper, but when we unpacked we realised we didn’t have a pot, pan or plate. We did have a pumpkin, though, so we stuffed it with the mince and put it directly on the coals. The recipe has evolved since then, and the bobotie has become my favourite.
You’ll need:
• a crown pumpkin (not as watery as a white pumpkin)
• a thick slice of bread, crusts cut off
• 1½ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons chutney
• 1 tablespoon smooth apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 5 teaspoons brown vinegar
• 1 kg beef mince
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons sultanas (optional)
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of turmeric
• a few bay leaves
Here’s how:
1. Scalp him! Cut the top off the pumpkin and set it aside to use as a lid. Hollow out the centre, keeping a thick layer of pumpkin around the edges.
2. Mop the milk. Soak the bread in milk. Heat oil and butter in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic. Add curry powder, salt, chutney, jam, Worcestershire sauce, turmeric and vinegar, and mix well.
3. Out with pink. Drain and mash the bread, reserving the milk. Add the bread to the pan, together with the mince and sultanas. Cook over low heat, stirring, and when the meat loses its pinkness,
remove it from the heat. Add one beaten egg, mix well and spoon the mixture into the hollowed-out pumpkin.
4. Nearly there. Beat the remaining eggs with the reserved milk, salt and turmeric, and pour the mixture over the meat. Put the bay leaves on top.
5. In the oven. If you’re doing this at home, stand the pumpkin in a pan containing a little water and bake it in the oven at 180°C for about two hours–without the pumpkin lid. Remove it from the oven and put the lid on.
6. The coal story. On an open fire, put the pumpkin in a large-enough cast-iron pot with a little water, and pile coals around the pot. Cook uncovered for two hours. Remove the pumpkin from the coals and put the “lid” back on.
Other recipes to try out:
Back Country Cuisine Babotjie
Game plan
Submitted on 3 September 2010 | 08:30:33
Great recipe. I quartered the recipe for a small pumpkin cut in two halfs (so made two individual single servings). I was very happy with my self at having every ingredient in the house. When I found the jam at the back fo the fridge and it made me oddly very happy.
Submitted on 20 August 2010 | 09:21:52
What do you have over there that is a similar shape and/or size? I used the pumpkin for various reasons: because it is nice and BIG to hold the bobotie, it cooks well and also because the sweetness of the pumpkin goes well with the bobotie. Let me know what you have, and I'll see what I think will work best. It has to be something that won't collapse after an hour in the oven so it has to have a "hard" skin! Marlene
Submitted on 18 August 2010 | 12:25:40
This recipe sounds amazing! Can you tell me what one can use instead of a pumpkin as they seem to be a very scarce commodity here in the UK!
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