South African beef bredie (beef stew)

It may be all the years I spent in Africa, but to me, a bredie always sounds tastier (and more exotic) than a plain old stew. But whatever you prefer to call it, this traditional South African beef bredie has it all - lots of tender beef in a tasty gravy, plenty of vegetables, and most important of all, it's packed with flavour!

If there is one thing I can say about South Africans, it's that they have perfected the art of making a stew. Not too many ingredients, but tons of flavour. OK - they may call it a bredie (pronounced bree-a-die), but what the heck, it's still a stew and it tastes amazing.

This beef bredie reminds me in some ways of a traditional British meat and potato pie - hardly any ingredients, but so much taste and flavour. I know that the great chefs of the world might not always agree with me, but sometimes I think that simple is better.

Most countries have their favourite stew recipes - such as Ireland with this slow cooker lamb and barley stew, Hungary with their Hungarian goulash or even (dare I say it) England with this delicious steak and kidney stew.

But I have to admit that this South African beef bredie takes some beating. Even my British born and bred husband loves it.

I like to serve this beef stew with plain white rice, which has been given a bit of oomph by the addition of a handful of frozen peas and corn. But if you prefer to serve it with crusty bread to soak up the delicious gravy then who am I to argue?

And before I get onto the recipe, you may like to try this other recipes for South African lamb bredie or green bean bredie with lamb. I promise you they're worth it!

Jump to:

• What you will need
• What to do
• Alternative cooking methods
• Serving suggestions
• Variations
• FAQ
• Save for later
• Related recipes
• 📋The recipe

What you will need

Equipment

I made this beef stew in my Ninja multi-cooker, but you could just as easily make it in a saucepan on the stove, in a dutch oven in the oven or even in a slow-cooker (see below for these alternative cooking methods). This is a big stew, so you'll need a saucepan or dutch oven large enough to hold all the ingredients if you are going to be cooking the recipe in this way.

You will also need a sharp knife for preparing the vegetables and a chopping board to protect your work surface.

Ingredients

The recipe as written will easily feed 6 people, but you can adjust the quantities to suit your requirements.

• Diced beef - I like to use chuck (you may know it as flank) because it cooks to a soft and tender deliciousness. If you prefer you could use topside. The meat should be cut into 2-inch pieces.
• Potatoes - if possible use a waxy potato such as Charlottes because they don't turn mushy as they cook. I find that a yellow potato will hold its texture in a stew more than a more floury white potato. Because these are quite small potatoes I just peel them and cut them in half.
• Onions - I like to cut these into quarters because I like large pieces of onion in a stew. You could cut them small if you prefer. You could use either red or white onions.
• Leeks and carrots - you should cut the carrots into chunky pieces, and slice the leeks into approximately half-inch circles.
• Celery - for extra flavour. Should be diced into half-inch pieces.
• Cabbage - this adds so much to the taste of the gravy. It cooks away to almost nothing, leaving just its flavour behind. It should be finely shredded.
• Flavourings - for flavour, I've added Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree (or tomato paste) and chutney. South Africans will recognise Mrs Ball's chutney in the photo, but you could use your favourite chutney of choice. Do try to use a fruity chutney if possible as the fruit adds an element of sweetness to the stew.
• Stock - I used 2 stock cubes to make 2 cups of stock. For a richer flavour, you could replace one cup of stock with one cup of your favourite red wine. However, do make sure this is a wine that you would actually drink. Don't add cheap plonk - it won't improve the flavour and may even spoil the stew.
• Flour - this is used to coat the beef.
• You will also need salt and black pepper for seasoning, and a small amount of oil for browning the beef. I like to use sunflower oil because it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.

**See the printable recipe card for actual quantities**

What to do

Pressure cooker method

I made this beef bredie in a Ninja multi-cooker. Consult your manufacturer's manual for cooking times for your own particular brand of pressure cooker.

If you need to thicken the gravy, mix one tablespoon of cornflour (or cornstarch) with 2 tablespoons of water and stir this slowly into the stew over moderate heat until the gravy thickens. You may not need all the cornflour mixture.

Pro tip - when browning the meat, don't overcrowd the pan or the meat will release its juices and stew rather than brown. The aim is to seal all the juices in the meat so that the beef remains tender and succulent. The pan should be on quite a high heat for this step. Fry the beef in batches if necessary.

Alternative cooking methods

Stove top

• Using a large saucepan, sear the meat and fry the onions, leeks and celery as described under the pressure cooker method above.
• Add the stock and flavouring ingredients, but use an extra cup of stock.
• Stir in the cabbage then cover the saucepan with a tightly fitting lid and simmer on low to moderate heat for 1 and a half to 2 hours, or until the meat is almost tender.
• Stir occasionally to ensure that the stew does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Add the carrots and potatoes and continue to cook until they are tender (15 -20 minutes).
• Top up with extra stock during the cooking process if it seems to be losing too much liquid.
• Thicken the gravy as described in the pressure cooker method if necessary.

Slow-cooker

• Using a frying pan, sear the meat as described under the pressure cooker method above, and then transfer the seared meat to your slow-cooker.
• Fry the onions, leeks and celery in the same pan until they start to soften and transfer them to the slow-cooker.
• Add the stock and flavouring ingredients and stir in the cabbage.
• Add the carrots and potatoes.
• Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours or until the meat is tender.
• Thicken the gravy as described in the pressure cooker method if necessary.

In the oven

• Using a frying pan, sear the meat as described in the pressure cooker method above, and then transfer the seared beef to a casserole dish.
• Fry the onion, leeks and celery in the same pan until they are starting to soften and transfer them to the casserole.
• Add the stock and flavouring ingredients and stir in the cabbage. Add an additional cup of stock to allow for any evaporation.
• Cover the casserole with a tightly fitting lid and place in the oven at 180C / 350F for one and a half hours.
• Remove the casserole from the oven, add the carrots and potatoes and check the level of the stock. Top up with extra stock if necessary.
• Return the casserole to the oven and continue to bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the vegetables are tender.
• Thicken the gravy as described in the pressure cooker method if necessary.

Serving suggestions

I like to serve this stew on a bed of white rice to which I add half a cup each of frozen peas and sweetcorn kernels to the cooked rice. Here is my easy way to cook rice in the microwave.

You may also like to serve the stew with crusty bread to mop up all the gravy. These Portuguese rolls would be ideal, as would these no-knead seeded bread rolls.

Variations

You can vary this recipe according to what vegetables you have on hand.

Why not add other hard root vegetables such as chopped swedes, turnips or parsnips?

You could add softer vegetables too, such as butternut, green beans or squash.

If you do decide to add softer vegetables, please bear in mind that they will take less time to cook than carrots and potatoes, so you may have to vary the cooking time to allow for this.

If you want to add a kick of heat to the stew you could fry a finely chopped chilli pepper (red or green depending on your preference) with the onions.

Here's a recipe for beef and barley stew, which is a similar recipe, but I've added barley for extra goodness.

FAQ

Save for later

If you would like to try this South African beef bredie, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so that you can find it when you want to make this dish? Just click on the image below.

Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

Related recipes

You may also enjoy these other beef stews. For more inspiration visit my beef recipes page.

📋The recipe

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