Recipes / Potjie
Tomato bredie in a flat potjie (heritage recipe)
The old Cape lamb and tomato stew, browned hard and simmered slowly in a flat-bottomed pot until the tomatoes cook down to a thick, rich gravy.
- Prep
- 25 min
- On the fire
- 2 hr 30 min
- Serves
- 4 to 6
- Done at
- 145°F (63°C)
Ingredients
Method
Cooking on gas?
- A potjie works well on gas, and the heat is easier to hold steady than coals.
- Use a gas ring, your grill's side burner, or stand the pot on the grates over one burner with the grill lid open. Check that it can take the weight of a full pot.
- Where the recipe says hot or medium coals for browning, use a medium-high flame. Where it says low coals or a few coals under the pot, turn it down to the lowest flame that keeps a gentle bubble. You will not need to add fresh coals.
- Set a flat-bottomed potjie (size 3) or a wide cast-iron pot over medium coals. Heat the oil until it shimmers.
- Brown the meat in two batches for 4 to 5 minutes a batch, turning until every side is deep brown. Lift it out.
- Cook the onions in the same pot for 5 minutes until soft and golden, scraping up the brown bits. Do not let them burn.
- Return the meat, add the tomatoes and chilli, and stir once. Add the salt, pepper and sugar if needed.
- Put the lid on and rake the coals down to low heat, a small bed under the pot. Simmer for 2 hours, adding a few coals every 30 minutes to keep a gentle bubble.
- If you use potatoes, push them into the sauce after 1 1/2 hours.
- For the last 20 to 30 minutes, take the lid off so the sauce thickens. Stir only enough to stop it catching on the bottom.
Done when: the meat pulls easily from the bone, the potatoes are soft, and the tomatoes have cooked into a thick red gravy. The meat passes the safe 63°C (145°F) early on; stewing cuts only turn tender at around 90°C (195°F), which takes the full simmer.
Tips
- The old recipe says to use a flat pot, not a deep one, so the gravy reduces. A flat-bottomed potjie or a wide Dutch oven does the job.
- Serve with white rice or stywe pap, and a sharp side such as cucumber sambal.
- Duckitt notes that the same method works with cauliflower, potatoes or marrow in place of tomato.
Bredie is the Cape word for a slow stew of meat and one vegetable, and tomato bredie is the best known. Hildagonda Duckitt wrote it down in 1891 as a favourite Cape Malay dish, using fatty mutton rib and a dozen ripe tomatoes. This version keeps her method and adds the heat control a potjie needs. See potjie basics if this is your first pot on the fire.
Source
Adapted from Hilda's "Where is it?" of Recipes by Hildagonda J. Duckitt (1891), public domain.