Tomato bredie

Neck, shank or knuckle, usually mutton, is braised with onions until the tomatoes collapse into a thick gravy, and potatoes go in towards the end. The seasoning stays simple, often whole cloves and allspice, with a little sugar to soften the acidity, and the bredie is eaten with plain white rice.

Bredie is the Cape word for a slow stew of meat and one main vegetable, and each bredie is named after its vegetable. Tomato is the best known. The origin of the word is uncertain. An 1815 English translation of Hinrich Lichtenstein's travels said it had come to the Cape with enslaved people from Madagascar, where it meant spinach, and the Dictionary of South African English also suggests a Portuguese source.

Cape cookery books of the 1890s already list tomatoes among the vegetables for a bredie, and it is still a favourite in Cape Town's cold, wet winters.