Makes 24

We’ve got some exciting Rugby weekends coming up and this is the perfect game day bite! Bobotie springrolls, baked in a crispy phyllo pastry casing, make a delicious, traditional South African snack. They’re easy to make, beautiful on presentation and conveniently, you can make them ahead of time and freeze them until you want to bake them. I recommend making the whole batch and taking them out as you need them for parties or get-togethers.

Here’s what goes in

• Olive oil for frying
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1kg minced beef
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons chutney
• 1 cup grated apple
• 2 teaspoons mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon dried mixed herbs
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon dried or freshly chopped chilli
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 box Phyllo pastry (500g)
• ¼ cup of melted butter, for brushing the pastry

How to do it

In a heavy-based pot, fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the mince, seasoning, chilli and sauces to the pot – reserving the bay leaves for later – and continue to fry. Add the grated apple and one cup of water to the pot, and leave to simmer for about half an hour.

To prepare your pastry casings, make sure that your roll of Phyllo pastry is thawed, and that you have melted butter and a basting brush ready. Unravel the roll of Phyllo and use 3 layers at a time, keeping the rest covered so that it doesn’t dry out. Lay these 3 layers out flat and lightly brush some butter in between the sheets where possible – sometimes sections of it stick together!

Using a sharp knife, cut the sheets in half across the length, and then into thirds vertically, so that you have 3 similar sized rectangles. Brush each rectangle with a bit of butter – this prevents it from drying out and cracking, and also helps with the sealing process when you roll up the pastry. Place a spoonful of mince in the middle of each rectangle. Fold the sides in towards the centre and then fold from the bottom up and roll it around the meat filling, until it forms a neat, cigar-like roll. (Use extra butter if you need it to seal it more tightly).

To bake, preheat the oven to 180°C. Lay the springrolls out on a lined baking tray, brush them with a little butter to finish and pop them into the oven for about 20 minutes, turning them over half way through the cooking process. You want the pasty on both sides to be crispy and golden brown. You can serve them immediately with a sweet chilli sauce or chutney.

These freeze extremely well too, so you can freeze anything you don’t want to use and simply thaw and bake them next time you’d like to serve them.