A casserole with minced beef and an egg topping.
Ingredients
- 2 lb ground minced beef/lamb
- 2 medium onions, chopped finely
- 1 tblsp oil
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1 tblsp tomato chutney
- 2 slices of bread (soaked in ½ cup milk)
- juice of ½ lemon
- 0.5 tblsp curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tblsp sugar
- 0.5 cup raisins
- seasoning.
- topping:
- 2 large eggs
- 200 ml milk (retained from soaking the bread)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F/Gas 3).
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onions and sauté until soft.
- Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder, turmeric and mix quickly around to coat the onions in the spice.
- Add the minced beef and continue to stir it over a medium heat until browned.
- Soak the bread in the milk for approximately 10 minutes the strain off the milk (but keep it) and fluff it up with a fork.
- Add the sugar, mashed bread, chutney, lemon juice and raisins to the mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the mixture into a casserole dish and place in the oven for 35 minutes.
- Mix the eggs with the milk and remove the casserole from the oven.
- Pour the egg custard on top of the meat and bake for a furthur 15-20 minutes.
Notes
This was declared the national dish of South Africa by the United Nations women’s organization in 1954. It has a varied heritage-the Dutch brought ground meat to local cuisine. The spices were introduced by the slaves from Indonesia and the presentation is reminiscent of English Sheppard’s pie. My mother was a tremendous cook and this dish for always a firm favourite with her and it was a way in which she used the leftovers from Sunday lunch.
