South African Tomato Bredie

An old family recipe for tomato & mutton stew with dumplings.

Sep 12, 2009 Karin Engelbrecht

This hearty tomato & mutton stew from South Africa is budget food at its best. It utilizes cheaper cuts of meat and all the lycopene goodness of cooked (tinned) tomatoes.

One of the best-known South African dishes is bredie, a stew of spiced mutton ribs cooked with vegetables, which may originally have been greens. In fact, the dish gets its name from the Portuguese word bredo , used to describe boiled greens. The term was presumably introduced to Southern Africa by Portuguese sailors. Today, there are a wide range of bredies in South African cuisine, and they are always served with rice.

How Did Bredies Become So Popular in South Africa?

The Dutch East India Company founded a settlement at the tip of Africa, almost halfway along the old sea route to India, in the middle of the 17th century. European farmers were allowed to immigrate and establish themselves there to make this outpost (at what is now Cape Town) viable. They were joined by French Huguenots in the latter part of the 17th century, who brought their knowledge of food and wine. The only equipment these settlers received upon arrival in the Cape was an 'ysterpot' (steel pot), which meant they had to fall back on their native stews.

Health Benefits of Tomatoes

Tomato bredie dates from late in the 18th century. Tomatoes require a lot of water to grow and could not be cultivated in South Africa before the widespread implementation of windmills. Interestingly, however, tomatoes were eaten in the Cape by European settlers for at least a century before it was widely consumed in Europe, where it was considered dangerous and unhealthy according to the medical beliefs that prevailed then. Nowadays, of course, we know that tomatoes are super good for us. In fact, research by Cornell University in the US has shown that cooked tomatoes release more lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that helps to protect the body against cancer and fights heart disease. Packed with over 3 lb of cooked tomatoes, this tomato bredie makes a pretty powerful source of lycopene.

Serves 4-6.

South African Tomato Bredie Ingredients

  • 3.3 lb/1.5 kg mutton ribs, cut into chunks
  • 2.2 lb/1 kg tinned whole tomatoes
  • 2 large onions
  • Sunflower oil
  • 1 cup/250 ml hot water
  • 10 peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire (or soy) sauce
  • 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp melted butter
  • 1 tbsp cake flour

Dumpling Ingredients

  • 1 cup/90 g cake flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 6 1/2 tbsp/95 ml milk

South African Tomato Bredie Directions

  1. Pat the meat dry with kitchen paper.
  2. Peel and slice the onions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy saucepan and saute the onions over a medium heat until translucent and shiny.
  3. Add the meat and brown on all sides.
  4. Now pour in the water, cover and stew for one hour.
  5. Add the peppercorns, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, cinnamon, salt & pepper and sugar and stew for one more hour, or until the meat is tender.
  6. Make a roux (paste) with the melted butter and flour. Add to the stew to thicken the sauce.
  7. Meanwhile, make the dumplings: Mix the dry ingredients and rub in the butter with your fingertips or blitz in a food processor. Slowly add the milk to form a stiff dough.
  8. Put some flour on your hands. Break off small pieces of the dough and roll into balls (they should be roughly the size of a ping pong ball).
  9. Place the dumplings on top of the stew, cover and allow to cook for a further 15 minutes.
  10. Serve the tomato bredie and dumplings with white rice.

South African Tomato Bredie Tips & Suggestions

  1. Use mutton chunks with bone and marrow. Don't be squeamish, it really adds a lot of flavour.
  2. If you have access to really flavourful tomatoes, e.g. if you grow your own, feel free to use fresh. Tinned tomatoes often have more flavour than many of the water bombs that pass for tomatoes in most supermarkets these days, and the truly flavourful varieties that are on offer are often very expensive. The added advantage of using tinned is that they're not only cheaper but you don't have to skin them, which is, let's face it , a tedious chore.
  3. If you don't fancy the sound of the dumplings, simply add 6 peeled and quartered potatoes to the stew after one hour.
  4. Serve this South African Tomato Bredie sprinkled with some freshly torn flat leaf parsley, white rice (cooked according to the instructions on the packet), and a simple leafy green salad.

Historical references:

Die geskiedenis van boerekos, H.W. Claassens

The Oxford Companion to Food, A. Davidson.

The copyright of the article South African Tomato Bredie in Recipes is owned by Karin Engelbrecht. Permission to republish South African Tomato Bredie in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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