Meat + fruit is a combination you must love to enjoy this meatloaf, but I do (if you smiled at the taste of your first bacon-wrapped date, this recipe is for you). I’d never heard of bobotie (pronounced BO-booh-tea) before last week when I discovered a wild and wonderful recipe on Saveur. This isn’t the first time I’ve made a Paleo-friendly meatloaf, but a curried version that’s described as a contender for the national dish of South Africa sounded like too much fun to pass up!
After I started researching different versions of the recipe, I found this centuries-old dish mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, not to mention on the sites of culinary celebrities such as Nigella Lawson and Rachael Ray. How had I never heard of this dish before? In any case, I know it now and it’s a keeper: a combination of rich, pungent meat and jammy fruit, warming spices, and the crunch of a slivered almond topping (I opted to replace the traditional custard topping of eggs and milk with nuts).
Don’t let the long ingredient list discourage you from trying this Paleo-friendly recipe. It’s a matter of moments to spoon in the rich mixture of spices. Enjoy!
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Bobotie (South African Curried Meatloaf)
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Total Time: 1 hr 10 min
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup strong black tea
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 large onion
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground lamb
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a loaf pan with foil, set aside.
- Combine the tea, raisins, and apricots in a bowl, let soak for 30 minutes. Drain, and reserve ⅓ cup soaking liquid. Set both aside.
- Roughly chop the onion, and finely shred with the garlic in a food processor. Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic and onion until lightly caramelized, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes.
- Add the turmeric, coriander, cayenne, cumin, pepper, fennel, and salt. Cook while stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the soaked fruit and soaking liquid plus the vinegar. Cook until almost all liquid evaporates.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl then add the beef, lamb, egg, and almond flour, mix until evenly combined. Transfer meat mixture to the foil-lined loaf pan.
- Scatter almonds in a single layer over the top of the meatloaf, pressing gently to adhere the slivers to the meat mixture.
- Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Cool enough to handle, then gently remove from the pan and slice.
The Comments
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Camille
This is a mouthwatering recipe, I love the idea of mixing dried fruit, spices and meat! You don’t specify when to add in the almond flour, I imagine when you stir all the ingredients together? Thanks for the great idea!
Fresh Planet Flavor
CamilleYes, add the almond flour when you mix the spices and fruit into the meat. This is a shockingly tasty twist on (boring) ol’ meatloaf. 😉
Diane
Fresh Planet FlavorThe instructions don’t specify when to add the egg? Or did you mean to delete the egg from the list of ingredients?
Fresh Planet Flavor
DianeGood catch! Corrected.
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