South Africa

 Welcome to South Africa!  I have to admit, I chose this country this week because my sister and I just saw a movie that was filmed in South Africa, and it looked beautiful.  So we decided to venture there!  This a bucket list country for me - it always has been!  According to Google, South Africa's population is 59.62 million people, and it actually has three capital cities: Executive Capital of Pretoria, the Judicial Capital of Bloemfontein, and the Legislative Capital of Cape Town.  And their national dish is...

 

Bobotie!

Quite honestly, looking at this recipe, it looked like it was either going to be very yummy or very not yummy.  I'm happy to say, it was very yummy and we will be making this one again.  It's a strange combination of flavors, but they actually work really well together.  Along with bobotie, we made Geelrys, and Melktert for dessert.  Here's what I did:

BOBOTIE

2 slices gluten free bread

1 C milk

2 lbs ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 inches ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 C golden raisins

1/2 C blanched, slivered almonds

1 tbsp apricot jam

1 tbsp fruit chutney (I used Indian mango chutney)

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp avocado oil

3 eggs

5 bay leaves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. Soak the bread in the milk, then squeeze it dry and reserve the milk
3. In a large bowl, mix the bread, beef, onion, ginger, raisins, almonds, jam, chutney, lemon juice, curry powder, turmeric, and salt.
4. Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the meat mixture lightly.
5. Put the lightly browned meat mixture in a casserole dish, and spread it out flat.
6. Beat the eggs with the reserved milk and pour the mixture over the beef mixture in the casserole dish.
7. Place the bay leaves on top of the casserole.
8. Bake for 1 hour until set.

(Source: Bobotie and Bobotie)

GEELRYS

1 C rice

1/4 C golden raisins

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 C water

1. Combine all the ingredients into a saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
3. Once the rice is done, place a towel across the top and cover it with the lid again for 10 minutes (this removes extra liquid and makes the rice fluffier).
4. Enjoy!

(Source: Geelrys)

 

MELKTERT

Tart Shell

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 C plus 1/4 C gluten free flour

1/3 C brown sugar

1/4 C powder sugar

1 tsp xanthun gum

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp chilled butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 tsp ice water

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Whisk egg yolk and vanilla together in a bowl.
3. Process flour, brown sugar, powder sugar, xanthan gum, and salt together in a food processor until combined.
4. Scatter butter over the top and pulse until mixture resembles cornmeal.
5. With the processor running, add egg yolk mixture and continue processing until the mixture just comes together.  
6. Add 1 tsp of ice water and pulse until dough comes together (add the second tsp if it doesn't come together).
7. Turn the dough onto plastic wrap, and make a disk about 6 inches in diameter, cover, and chill for an hour.
8. Let the dough sit out for a few minutes before trying to roll it out.
9. Spray a 9 inch tart pan with oil.
10. Roll the dough into a 12 inch circle in between two pieces of plastic wrap.
11. Place the tart pan, bottom side up, in the center of the dough, and press gently to make a cut.  Place a sheet pan on top of the tart pan.
    
12. Carefully flip the tart pan and sheet pan, with the dough in the tart pan, and press the dough along the bottom and sides of the tart pan.
13. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the crust, fill with pie weights, and bake for 25 minutes, until starting to golden.
14. Set aside to cool, and make the filling.  Leave the oven on for the next part!
    

Filling: (yes, I did this all by weight and volume!)

750 ml milk

75 gr butter

3 eggs, yolks and whites separated

100 gr sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

30 gr corn starch

To serve: sugar and cinnamon

1. Melt the butter in milk over medium heat.
2. Beat yolks with sugar and vanilla, then incorporate the corn starch.
3. Add a tbsp of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
4. Add the remaining milk, stirring constantly, until everything is smooth.  
5. Let this mixture cool.
6. Meanwhile, whip the egg whites until stiff.
7. When milk mixture is cool (room temp or slightly above), gently fold the whipped egg whites into the milk mixture.
8. Pour the egg mixture into the tart shell.
9. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
10. Bake for 30 minutes (this will puff up like a soufflé!)
11. Let it cool completely, and add more sugar and cinnamon when serving.

(Source: America's Test Kitchen: How Can it be Gluten Free Cookbook and Melktert)

 

     

 

   

The verdict?  The casserole was delicious.  We were surprised due to all the fruity things that were included, but it was simply delicious.  I've been enjoying leftovers all week!  The rice may be our new favorite way to make rice.  We would likely leave out the raisins, but the spice combination is amazing.  We may or may not have been fighting over the leftover rice...The melktert was not a favorite.  It appeared to be almost a creme brule soufflé tart, but it really lacked in flavor.  It was better when it was completely chilled, but we still were not impressed.  We didn't keep the leftovers...

ME

Taste of Bobtie (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Bobtie (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable):1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

ME

Taste of Geelrys (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Geelrys (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable):1

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 7

 

ME

Taste of Melktert (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 4

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 3

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Melktert (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

There you have it!  This was a fun country.  And reading up on it, there are so many fascinating facts on South Africa!  So much so, we decided next week, we'll try a neighboring country: Djibouti!