Recipe origin: South Africa
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or ground lamb (or may use half and half)
- 1 cup onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
- 2 slices of white bread soaked in milk
- 2 Tablespoons curry powder
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 Tablespoons slivered almonds
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 egg
- Turmeric, dash
- 2 bay leaves
Ingredients for Topping
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
Procedure
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Brown ground meat in a large skillet. Drain off fat.
- Add the chopped onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until onions are softened.
- Add the chopped apple.
- Squeeze out excess milk from bread slices and add them to skillet, tearing the softened bread apart to blend it with the meat mixture.
- Add curry powder, raisins, almonds, lemon juice, 1 egg, and turmeric. Stir well to combine.
- Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Pour mixture into the dish and lay bay leaves on top.
- Bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Mix egg and milk together for topping, and pour over meat mixture.
- Return dish to oven and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Unlike in the United States, foods are seldom packaged for convenience. Bread is rarely pre-sliced and preservatives are not widely used. National laws determine store hours, particularly for meat sellers, who often open as early as 5:30 A.M. and close as early as 1 P.M. For those who can afford it, a servant may be hired to help prepare meals and travel to the stores at early hours.
Lunch may be a simple meal, such as a sandwich or soup. Students returning from school may enjoy a fruit drink, similar to a smoothie, as a between-meal snack. Fresh fruits such as pineapple are often the basis for these refreshing beverages.
