Vegan Bobotie

This is a traditional South African dish that I have heavily altered to make into a Vegan version.  Traditional Bobotie is meant to have raisins and fruit through it. My Vegan man hates raisins and doesn't really like fruit put into main dishes - so I omitted those ingredients. Feel free to add sliced apple, apricots and raisins in this dish if you prefer.


Vegan Bobotie ( bar -boo - tee) 

Ingredients

• 1 Large red onion diced
• 1 Green capsicum diced
• 2 tsp ginger minced
• 2 tsp garlic minced
• 1 tsp ground tumeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cardamon
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tbs Balti paste (medium)
• 2 cups of red lentils
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• 6 slices of white bread, cut into cubes
• 2  cups of soy milk
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1 packet of soft tofu
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 6 Bayleaves
• Salt / Pepper

Method

1. Soak soy milk and bread together while cooking the lentils.
2. Put a Medium sized pot on medium heat and add a bit of olive oil - when hot add onion, garlic, ginger, capsicum and some seasoning. Sweat until soft.
3. Add the lentils and all the spices except the nutmeg,  tumeric and mustard.
4. Give a good stir and then add half a cup of stock and cook the lentils how you would risotto. Adding half a cup of stock to the lentils once the lentils have soaked up the liquid. Cook until the lentils are al-dente 
5. Add the bread mixture and almonds - stir through. Season
6. Pour your lentil mixture into a baking dish. Put the oven on 180 C
7. Meanwhile, while your oven is heating - in a blender, add  nutmeg, tumeric, mustard, tofu, soy sauce and 2 tbs soy milk. Blend until smooth.
8. Spread on top of your lentil mix - spread out the bay leaves on top.
9. Bake for around 30 minutes.