Carolyn™ - Outdoor Cooking In Oz

APRICOT BLATJANG (CHUTNEY)

My friends Ian and Brenda were originally from South Africa and whenever we get together food is always the main topic.  They suggested Boboetjie would be a suitable dish for me to make in a camp oven and Youtube.  Attached to the recipe they emailed me was one for Blatjang and I have made it this morning in readiness as a side to go with the Boboetjie. 

These are the ingredients I used to make three small jars, it could easily be doubled.

APRICOT (BLATJANG) CHUTNEY

Adapted by Carolyn - Outdoor Cooking In Oz

1 1/2 cups chopped dried apricots

1 1/2 cups seedless raisins

6 cups grape (wine or cider) vinegar

2 chopped large onions

2 crushed cloves of garlic

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup flaked almonds

1 Tablespoon salt

1 1/2 Tablespoons ground ginger

1 Tablespoon ground coriander

1 Tablespoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (could be increased)

Soak overnight the apricots, raisins and vinegar to plump the fruit. The next morning add the remaining ingredients and cook uncovered over medium heat stirring occasionally at first and then constantly towards the end to prevent sticking.

Reduce to about one third.  This should take between 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Put into hot sterilised jars, seal and store in a cool dark place.

I will use it as a side to go with Boboetjie but it would go well with any meals or cheese that you enjoy chutney with.

BOBOETJIE

As I made the Boboetjie I knew I was taking a chance.  I was only cooking for two so I halved the ingredients, this would have been alright if I had put the mixture into a smaller container within the camp oven but I spread it out over a 12" camp oven and it was too thin, for the full mixture I would suggest using an 8" foil dish or camp oven.  I increased the full topping by 50% to cover the area to some degree but meant the slices had a greater quantity of topping and less of the meat mixture.

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The flavour was good and the Blatjang certainly was a good side dish to go with it. 

Here are the full quantities from the recipe I adapted and came from Epecuris.

BOBOETJIE

1K minced lamb or beef, or a mixture of the two 

butter, vegetable oil for frying

2 onions, chopped

2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) crushed garlic

15 ml (1 tablespoon) curry powder

5 ml (1 teaspoon) ground turmeric

2 slices bread, crumbled

60 ml (1/4 cup) milk

finely grated rind and juice of 1/2 small lemon

1 egg

5 ml (1 teaspoon) salt, milled black pepper

100 g (3 ounces) dried apricots, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored and chopped

60 ml (1/4 cup) sultanas (golden raisins)

50 g (1 1/2 ounces) slivered almonds, roasted in a dry frying pan

6 lemon, orange, or bay leaves

TOPPING

250 ml (1 cup) milk

2 eggs2 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt

(I heated 24 beads and cooked it throughout with 8 under 16 on top)

Set the oven at 160°C (325°F). Butter a large casserole. Heat butter and oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Remove the pot from the heat.

Mix in the minced meat. Mix together the crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, sultanas (golden raisins) and almonds and mix in. Pile into the casserole and level the top. Roll up the leaves and bury them at regular intervals. Seal with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F). Mix together the topping milk, eggs and salt (you may require extra topping if you've used a very large casserole), pour over and bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes until cooked and lightly browned. Serve with Yellow Rice and Blatjang