Tomato Bredie – Good Old Winter Warming Food
As a child growing up in the South African Winters we were made to eat good old fashioned Tomato Bredie, and I will be honest with you, as a child I hated even the sound of cooked Tomatoes. Thankfully age has brought me around, and this is one of my best winter dishes of all time. Just by the way, my kids actually enjoy it too.
Bredie is an old Cape name for a dish of meat and vegetables stewed together so that the flavours intermingle. The gravy is rich, thick and full-bodied, and is obtained by using meat with a fair amount of bone and fat, rolling it in flour and browning it before the vegetables are added. For me this dish is best left alone after cooking and eating the next day, the flavours seem to intensify with time.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
11/2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder cut into chunks
1 large onion, peeled and cut into slices
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
6 medium-sized firm ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut crosswise into slices
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh hot chillies
2 whole cloves
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Method
In a heavy 10 to 12-inch skillet, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the lamb and brown it a few pieces at a time. Turn the pieces frequently with a slotted spoon and regulate the heat so that they colour richly and evenly without burning. As the lamb browns, transfer the pieces to a plate. Take your time here and don’t do too much meat at a time.
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet and drop in the onion slices and the garlic. Stirring frequently and scraping in any brown particles that cling to the bottom of the pan, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft and golden brown. Stir in the tomatoes, chillies, cloves, sugar and salt, then add the lamb and any juices that have accumulated around it.
Reduce the heat to the lowest possible point, cover tightly, and cook the bredie for 1 hour, stirring it from time to time to prevent the vegetables and lamb from sticking to the pan. Remove the cover and, stirring and mashing the tomatoes occasionally, simmer for 30 to 40 minutes longer or until the lamb is very tender and most of the liquid in the pan has cooked away. The sauce should be thick enough to hold its shape almost solidly in the spoon.
Tip: Leave the skin on the tomatoes, it somehow adds to the flavour of the dish.
Tip: I wrap my cloves in a piece of netting and tie it closed, that way I don’t have to pick out cloves when the dish is done, just remove the netting and it’s all gone.
