South African Meat & Green Bean Stew, warm, hearty, flavourful.
Green bean bredie, yes a bredie. What is a bredie you ask, it’s a type of stew but it’s a stew that is made with very little liquid with most of the liquid coming from the vegetables that it is cooked with. There are many types of bredie, the most popular being tomato, pumpkin and green bean bredie. My personal favourite is “waterblommetjie” bredie but a tin of waterblommetjies is near impossible to get hold of in South Africa.
Bredies are a traditional Cape dish with recipes being passed down from family to family. They are rich stews that are filling and comforting with thick delicious sauces and aromatic flavours. Mutton or lamb is almost exclusively used for bredies because of the rich flavour of the meat. Because of the long cooking times required the vegetables get to mingle with each other and create the distinct sauces that are typical of a good bredie.
My green bean bredie stays traditional with the use of lard instead of oil for frying. I also like adding the green beans and potatoes right in the beginning of the cooking process because it allows for a thicker sauce that pairs perfectly with fluffy white rice to soak it all up…I’m salivating just writing this post!
