Tomato Bredie cooked in a potjie, served with Tastic Rice.

Howzit, well it seems like the weather is never going to get any better in this country for the foreseeable future so we will just have to get used to the water around our ankles. This week I'm going to cook a South African favourite “Tomato Bredie” this is a Cape Malay dish and I got this recipe from one of South Africa’s most famous chefs "Cass Abrahams". I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Cass back in February 2000, how time flies, it only seems like yesterday that we were jawing in the sunshine.

Firstly here are a few tips from Cass to making a Good Bredie:

Always braise the meat with onions and spices before adding the vegetables.
Never boil meat in stock or water – this tends to dry out and toughen the meat.
Always keep the cooking temperature constant – medium heat – allowing the bredie to simmer gently for a few hours.
Don't add liquid. The juices from the vegetables are sufficient to make a loverly thick gravy.
Bredies are best served with Tastic Rice (click here to see on our shopping site)

SERVES 8: PREP: 25MINS: COOK TIME:2-3HR

Ingredients for the Tomato Bredie:
1kg x Mutton rib or chump chops
2 x large onions sliced
½tsp x peppercorns
½tsp x ground cloves
125ml x water
25ml x vegetable oil
2 x sticks of cinnamon
3cm x pice of fresh root ginger finely chopped
2-3 x cardamon pods
2-3 x cloves fresh garlic chopped (optional)
1kg x very ripe tomatoes chopped (or 3 tins)
1-3 x green chilli chopped (to taste)
6 x medium potatoes, peeled and halved
salt, pepper and sugar to taste (I used ½tsp salt, ½tsp pepper and 2 tsp sugar) with some chopped parsley for a garnish.

Method of cooking the Tomato Bredie:

Preheat the Braai/BigGreenEgg to 180°C (356°F)

Place the onions, peppercorns, cloves and water in the potjie or large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Then add the oil and cinnamon and braise until the onions are golden. Add the mutton, ginger and cardamon pods and stir thoroughly. Turn down the heat, cover the potjie with a tightly fitting lid and simmer gently for 30 mins. Then add the tomatoes and chilli (garlic if you want) and close the lid and simmer for a further 20 mins. Now add the potatoes, salt freshly ground pepper and sugar to taste. Replace the lid and simmer for as long as you can, I cooked mine for a further 2hrs, the longer you can leave it the better it will taste.

Garnish with some chopped parsley and serve on a bed of freshly cooked Tastic Rice. Note, this is not a curry so don’t expect it to taste like one, its a classic South African Stew and boy was this great!

We are going to be giving away 2 x 1kg Packs of Tastic Rice this week. If you would like to win one of the lucky winners then please leave some feed back and it could be you that gets a chance to make this really traditional South African recipe with some Tastic Rice. Also I love to hear what you think about what i'm cooking, feel free to leave suggestions what you would like to see me cook. All the best until next week “Alles van die beste tot volgende week”.