Beef and Vegetable Bobotie with Almond and Coconut Topping

I have decided to cut down on wheat in my meals since summer has begun and my drink of choice is mostly Artisan beers loaded with wheat and also following the Paleo diet again which I have posted about before which is not really a diet as much as a way of eating inspired by my friend David Grier and his recently released book, The Real Meal Revolution made with Professor Tim Noakes from the Sports Science Institute. When I receive my copy I will post a few recipes.

I have not made curry in ages and tonight I decided to make this Bobotie, a Classic South African dish with a twist mainly because I like vegetables and I prefer the coconut almond taste to the topping (dairy free), Bobotie is basically a spiced mince with an egg custard topping found in recipe books in the early 1600's already.

Beef and Vegetable Bobotie with Almond and Coconut Topping
Serves 4

30ml Sunflower oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 dried chilli, halved
300g lean beef mince
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 baby marrow, rinsed and cubed
1 tbsp tomato paste
5ml curry powder
2ml garam masala
2ml cumin ground
2ml coriander ground
3 ml Turmeric
10ml white vinegar
20ml chutney
Squeeze of lemon
10 fine beans cut into 1cm long pieces
2 potatoes cooked and cubed (optional)
5ml cornflour
salt and pepper

Topping
2tbsp coconut powder
2 eggs
350ml almond milk
10ml chutney
pinch of salt
few toasted almonds

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot, fry off the onions, garlic and ginger.
Add the mince and fry until the liquid has evaporated and it starts to fry again.
Add the tomato paste and spices and fry off for a few minutes.
add the vinegar, lemon and chutney, cook for 20 minutes.
Add the beans, cooked potato cubes if using and season.
Cook for another 5 minutes then thicken with cornflour slaked in water.
Place in a 25cm casserole dish which has been sprayed with spray and cook.
Mix all the ingredients for the topping except the almonds.
Put the mince mixture in the casserole dish and smooth the top.
Gently pour the topping over and Bake at 180 - 200°c for 20 minutes.
Serve with chopped tomato and onion flavoured with vinegar, salt and pepper, banana's and chutney.

This Recipe is wheat and dairy free.
Picture and recipe copyright by Tamsyn Wells

The Paleolithic Diet

I'm a chef so its almost impossible to diet and I never really have been on one as although being in a kitchen all day, my food choices are 90 percent healthy. I also suffer with a bit of lactose intolerance so I already have to cut dairy out of my diet which is tough enough. My boyfriend says he needs to watch what he eats.... well he blames me and all the goodies I make and the fact that he sits at a computer all day where I am running around at work most of the time. He asked me to check out the Paleolithic diet and see if I can try it with our meals at home. http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-food-list/

It basically says we should eat food only of the Paleolithic period so this would be eating meat, fish, some vegetables, fruits, seeds and oils. Cut out, pulses, breads / grain products, starches, processed and sweetened foods and dairy.
Meats and fish should be organic where possible and the rule with the vegetables is that if you can eat it raw then you can eat it on this diet.

All fruits and nuts are fine however if you are trying to loose weight then cut them out. Above is an example of one of my dinners and below is a weeks menu.
I must say I am a bread and potato fan and have not even missed it with our meals yet. The meal above is seared Norwegian Salmon, sauteed baby spinach with sesame seeds, beetroot and a tomato and avocado salad.

Week 1

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Bowl of berries /w coconut milk	Salad /w roasted chicken, cherry tomatoes & olive oil / lemon juice vinaigrette	Paleo Spaghetti	Macadamia nuts
Tuesday	Leftover paleo spaghetti	Chicken & veggie soup /wliver pâté	Beef goulash	Beef jerky
Wednesday	Onion and spinach omelet /w leftover liver pâté	Tuna salad wrapped in lettuce /w almonds	Beef bourguignon Dessert:Coconut ice cream	Hard boiled eggs
Thursday	Bacon & eggs /w piece of fruit	Zucchini and sweet potato frittata	Grilled trout /wbutternut squash soup	Pork Rinds
Friday	Coconut milk smoothie	Citrus beef salad stir-fry	Citrus roast chicken /wsweet potato fries	Bowl of berries /w almonds
Saturday	Cold Leftover roast chicken /w mayo	Lemon & garlic scallops Dessert: Coconut ice cream	Bone marrow/w Waldorf salad Dessert:Baked apples	Dark chocolate covered bacon
Sunday	Tomato and egg stir-fry	Bacon, grape & broccoli salad	Butter chicken	Raw veggies /w guacamole

Picture and article Copyright by Tamsyn Wells