Macadamia Nut Bobotie

“In adapting this recipe from the metric to US measurements, I had to approximate a few things, guess at some others.I changed some measurements slightly, and added a couple of ingredients,too.But overall, I found this recipe delicious, and so did everyone who tried it.Here are my notes:My first try at vegetarian version of this traditional South African dish. I developed this version based on several different versions on recipezaar.com, but primarily on # 12243It came out like a sort of fruit & nut curry, very flavorful.2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons butter2 large onions, diced4 garlic cloves, pressed1 cup carrots, grated1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated1 Tablespoon curry powder1 teaspoon ground coriander1 teaspoon turmeric1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 tablespoon lemon juice2 finely diced green chiles (I used serranos)½ cup golden raisins, soaked in white wine2 slices hearty multi seed whole grain bread, crust removed, soaked in 2/3 cup vegetable stock½ cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped½ cup finely chopped almonds1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and mashedtopping1 2/3 cups buttermilk3 eggs½ teaspoon salt1. Preheat oven to 400°. Grease 9 x 13 casserole pan.2. Tear bread into pieces in small bowl. Cover with veggie broth and set aside.3. Also set aside ½ cup golden raisins with just enough white wine to soak them in.4. Sauté the onions in the oil/butter mixture, cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes.5. In a small bowl, mix the garlic, carrots and ginger together. Add to onion mixture and cook another 10 minutes.6. Add curry, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, chiles, lemon juice and raisins (drain off the white wine, and drink it.)7. In a medium sized bowl, mash chickpeas and combine with chopped macadamias and almonds.8. Mash the bread that was soaked in the stock with a fork, and stir into nut and chickpea mixture.9. Add nut/chickpea mixture to onions and spices mixture, blend well.10. Press mixture into prepared pan.11. Beat the topping ingredients together and pour over bobotee.12. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until custard has set and the top is golden brown.Notes:Next time, I would do 1 cup almonds instead of ½ cup macadamias, ½ cup almonds.I would make sure the almonds were very finely chopped.I would also make sure the garbanzos were very well mashed until smooth.I might sub ¼ cup golden raisins and ¼ cup chopped apricots for the ½ cup raisins.I think I would add about 2 tablespoons of almond butter to the nut/chickpea mixture.I might sprinkle a little cinnamon across the top of the custard”