Lamb or mutton braised slowly with tomatoes, onions and potato, warm with cinnamon, cardamom and a little chilli.
What makes it tomato bredie
Fatty lamb or mutton on the bone.
A lot of tomato, cooked right down.
Cinnamon, cardamom and cloves; a little chilli and sugar.
Where it comes from
A bredie is a slow braise of meat with one vegetable, and the word is sometimes traced to Madagascar, for leafy greens. Tomato is the best known, but a household cooks bredie with whatever is in season.
It's cooked for hours, never stirred much, until the meat falls from the bone and the tomato has thickened into the sauce. It's served with rice, and is said to be better the next day.
How it varies
Waterblommetjie bredie
With the flowers of Cape pondweed, gathered from farm dams in winter and spring.