Vegan Bobotie with yellow rice

My lovely Grandfather was from South Africa, and always loved barbeques, boerewors, bobotie… I’ve run out of ‘b’s but you get the picture 🙂  He certainly enjoyed his meat so I wonder what he’d say to my vegan version!  As much as he loved me I don’t think he’d be impressed by the lentils, I’m laughing just thinking about it!  I’ve made this bobotie numerous times, trying to get it close to the version I remember, and tonight was the night when the recipe came together and sang sweet harmonies of yummyness.

Apart from being fed this as a girl, it wasn’t until a South African colleague gave me her amazing recipe (about 15 years ago now!) that I had a go at cooking it myself.  It was so delicious that I just had to tweak it to being vegan.  I love the warming spices, creamy topping, and fragrant yellow rice that goes with it.  I hope you do too!

Print Recipe

Vegan Bobotie

Course

Main Dishes

Cuisine

Vegan

Servings

people

Ingredients

bobotie filling

• 2 tbsp odouless coconut oil
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 1 apple diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 3 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp curry powder mine has no chilli in it at all, so adjust this quantity according to your curry powder and taste
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 400g tins lentils drained and rinsed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup tinnned tomatoes 250 ml
• 1/2 cup water

'custard' layer

• 300 g live natural coconut yoghurt
• 2 tbsp plant based milk or water optional - if your coconut yoghurt is too thick to spread easily
• 1/4 tsp salt slightly rounded
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

yellow rice

• 1 tsp odouless coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup raisins optional - I can't use these but they're a delicious addition!
• 3 cups boiling water

Course Main Dishes Cuisine Vegan Servings people Ingredients bobotie filling 2 tbsp odouless coconut oil 1 large onion diced 2 carrots diced 1 apple diced 1 red bell pepper diced 3 cloves garlic crushed 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tbsp curry powder mine has no chilli in it at all, so adjust this quantity according to your curry powder and taste 1/4 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp ground coriander 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp mixed herbs 1 tsp salt freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1/2 tbsp maple syrup 2 400g tins lentils drained and rinsed 2 bay leaves 1 cup tinnned tomatoes 250 ml 1/2 cup water 'custard' layer 300 g live natural coconut yoghurt 2 tbsp plant based milk or water optional - if your coconut yoghurt is too thick to spread easily 1/4 tsp salt slightly rounded freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tbsp maple syrup yellow rice 1 tsp odouless coconut oil 1 1/2 cups basmati rice 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup raisins optional - I can't use these but they're a delicious addition! 3 cups boiling water

Instructions

1. Melt the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and carrots for 4 minutes.
2. Add the apple, red bell pepper, ginger and garlic and fry for 2 more minutes.
3. Stir in the spices and fry for another minute, then add all the rest of the ingredients. Bring these to the boil then simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius (fan), and put the dish that you'll bake the bobotie in to warm up.
5. While the bobotie is simmering, mix together the ingredients for the 'custard' style topping. I used yogurt here to get a similar effect of it solidifying a bit like the egg mixture would for the non-vegan version...different but good!

   
6. Once the mixture has simmered for the 10 minutes, take your heated dish out of the oven and spoon the filling in. Cover this with blobs of the yogurt topping and spread it around with the back of a spoon.

   
7. Put this in the oven and bake for half an hour.
8. While the bobotie is baking you can prepare the yellow rice. Try to time it to be cooked as the bobotie is ready to come out of the oven. Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and stir it up well. Pop the lid on and let it simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed.
9. Serve together with either more vegetables or a salad of your choice. I hope you enjoy it!