South African curried mince bake with egg custard topping (Bobotie)

1. Soak the bread in the 100 ml milk; dice the onions, crush the garlic and roughly chop the almonds.

2. Soften the onion in the oil in a large frying pan, add the garlic, curry powder and turmeric and fry for 1 minute.

3. Add the mince and fry for 8-10 minutes, stirring, until it loses its raw colour, then take off the heat.

4. Stir in the squeezed-out bread (keep the milk), the raisins, mango chutney, almonds, lemon juice and salt, then spread in a buttered ovenproof dish of about 20x30 cm.

5. Whisk the eggs with the 200 ml milk, the milk squeezed from the bread and a pinch of salt, pour over the meat and push the bay leaves into the top.

6. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C for 35-40 minutes until the top is set and golden; serve with rice and chutney.

Tip: Bobotie is a legacy of the Cape Malay kitchen and one of South Africa's national dishes: sweet, tangy and mildly curried all at once. It is traditionally eaten with yellow rice with turmeric and raisins. Remove the bay leaves when serving, they are only there for the aroma.