Recipe(tried): Bobotie, Steamed Dried Apricots, Mariana's Peas

Wanting something different from our "plain old, plain old", I looked for my Bobotie recipe which my friend, Mariana, had given me. She served it to us, probably 30 years ago, when she and her husband lived in Oregon. I had not forgotten how good it was. (Mariana, and her husband, Piet, are now American citizens but are originally from South Africa.) I could not find my recipe so I emailed Mariana for it. Wanting to make sure her directions for Bobotie, as well as her recipe for Sosaties, were correct and that I understood them, she called which was the most lovely surprise I have had in a long time:-) Not only did we talk about the recipes but we reminised about our years in Oregon, and, of course, our children. I knew that Bobotie was always served with white rice but I asked her for her recommendations for other side dishes. She suggested steamed, sweetened, dried fruit, corn relish, peas, slightly sweetened, and a green salad. I served mine with all of those except the corn relish. If you don't care for curry, then this dish is not for you.

BOBOTIE

1 lb. minced (ground) beef or lamb (I used ground beef.)
1 medium onion, diced
1 to 2 tablespoons apricot jam
1 to 2 tablespoons Major Grey's chutney
2 to 3 tablespoons curry powder (She uses curry that she has sent from South Africa but I had to use what we get in the grocery store.)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 slice white or brown bread
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk
1 egg
About 1/2 cup raisins
4 bay leave
Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime (Mariana prefers lime so that is what I used.)
*Optional:
1/4 cup milk
1 egg

Saute onion in small amount of butter until light brown. Remove from skillet.

Brown meat in same skillet but don't brown it too much. Drain, then add onions back into meat, and add the apricot jam, chutney, curry powder, salt and pepper, and lemon or lime juice. (I used 2 tablespoons of jam and 2 tablespoons of chutney. The result was too sweet for my taste so next time, I think I will only use 1 tablespoon of each of those ingredients.)

Soak slice of bread in milk in a pyrex casserole. (I removed the crust though Mariana didn't say to remove it.) Break the egg into the bread/milk mixture. Using a fork, break the bread up into very small pieces. This results is a soggy mixture of bread/milk/egg.

Add the meat mixture to the bread/milk/egg mixture in the casserole. Add the raisins to these ingredients and mix well.

Stick the 4 bay leaves, standing up, into the meat mixture, at various points.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. Serve with rice.

*Optional- Mix 1/4 cup milk with an egg, and pour over the meat, then allow it to brown in the oven. I asked Mariana if she usually used this custard topping and she said that she usually didn't, so I didn't.

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STEAMED DRIED FRUIT

1 lb. of a mixture of dried fruit
Water
1 tablespoon sugar

Place dried fruit in saucepan. Add water about half way up on fruit. Cover pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes or until fruit has plumped up. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

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MARIANA'S PEAS

Peas
Water
Butter
Sugar

Partially cook the amount of peas you need for the number of people you are serving. (I used about a cup of Trader Joe's Petite Peas for DH and myself. I microwaved them for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, then drained them.)

Melt small amount of butter in skillet. (I used about 1 teaspoon of butter.) Add small amount of sugar to the butter. (I used about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp.) Add drained peas to the pan and heat or saute for a couple of minutes to finish cooking the peas.