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Curry Mince Jaffles

Curry Mince Jaffles is a traditional South African recipe for a dish of curried mince with cheese placed bwtween slices of bread and cooked on a braai (barbecue) in a jaffle iron. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic South African version of: Curry Mince Jaffles.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

40 minutes

Total Time:

60 minutes

Serves:

8

Rating:

Tags : CurrySpice RecipesBeef RecipesBread RecipesCheese RecipesSouth-africa Recipes

It was National Heritage Day in South Africa over the weekend. It’s a national holiday affectionately known as ‘National Braai Day’ and it marks the start of spring, when the weather has warmed up enough after winter for everyone to go out for a barbecue. The week before, the local supermarket had stocked up on barbecue equipment. I saw an aluminium gadget that looked like a domed waffle iron. I had no idea what it was but, curiosity piqued, I bought it anyway. Reading the insert card I learnt it was a jaffle... which still meant nothing to me.

A little googling later I found out what it was for, along with a few recipes. The classic one was the curry mince jaffle. The good thing about this recipe was that the mince filling could be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator, meaning that only the jaffle itself need be assembled and cooked on braai day.

Now, to assuage your curiosity, a jaffle is basically a toasted sandwich made in a jaffle iron and cooked on the barbecue. Now that’s sorted, on with the recipe...

Ingredients:

For the Mince:
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
500g lean minced (ground) beef or venison
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 rsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
2 tbsp medium curry powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée

12 slices of bread
cheddar cheese, grated
butter (for the bread)

Method:

You can either make the curried mince ahead of time in a deep frying pan or wok or you can use your potjie (Dutch oven) on the braai. I’m using a deep frying pan here, but the same method applies.

Heat the oil in your pan, add the onion and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the mince, garlic, salt and black pepper and fry until the meat is golden brown and no longer looks raw. It is best to use a wooden spoon to cook the meat and make sure to break up any large clumps whilst its cooking.

Now stir in the curry powder, turmeric, coriander and cumin and fry for two minutes, until aromatic. At this point stir in the chopped tomatoes and the tomato purée. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 30 minutes, or until the mixture is almost dry.

Take off the heat and allow to cool completely before spooning into an air-tight container and storing in the fridge.

Once ready to braai (barbecue) and whilst your coals are heating spread the bread on one side with the butter. Trim one slice of bread and fit in the base of your jaffle maker (butter side against the metal). Fill with the curried mince then sit a second slice of bread (butter side outermost) on top. Close the jaffle then place directly over the coals.

Toast the jaffle, turning occasionally to toast evenly for about 8 minutes. Note that this timing is approximate and how quickly the bread toasts will depend on how hot the coals are. I would suggest opening the jaffle from 6 minutes to check on the toasting of the bread. After all, burnt toast cannot be unburned.

Jaffles are ready to serve when the bread is golden brown and the mince is heated through.