My Mother's Greenbean ''Bredie" (Stew)
Why I Love This Recipe
This is an old family favourite, and please forgive me if the quantities are not very precise - it's just one of those dishes we cook with no exact ingredient measures. I have also adapted it for the pressure cooker, which makes a somewhat fresher-flavoured stew in half the time of the original.
To give the whole affair a Cape Malay twist, steam some garlic, green ginger and chillies with the meat and serve the tomato and onion salad chopped into cubes, also with a touch of green chilli.
My Mother's Cucumber Sambal:
Grate an English cucumber and half an onion. Salt to taste and set aside for half an hour.
Squeeze out the juices and flavour with white wine vinegar, sugar and a lot of white pepper. Chill for an hour or two.
Ingredients You'll Need
6 round slices of lamb neck, not too thin
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon toasted and ground coriander seeds
3 whole cloves or 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
salt and white pepper
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into eight pieces each
1 lb fresh greenbeans cut into 1/2-inch lengths
a lump of good butter
Directions
Steam the lamb neck, onion and spices (salt sparingly) with 1/2 cup of water for half an hour or until very tender. (In the pressure cooker I use this means that there is still a good bit of juice left; otherwise add another half cup before the next step - the stew should end up moist but without runny juices).
Add the potatoes and beans and steam for another 5 minutes, by which the potatoes should be falling apart.
Taste for seasoning (quite peppery is good) and mash the potatoes, beans and a fair-sized lump of butter with a potato masher.
It doesn't matter if some bits of the meat come off the bone and get mixed into the mashed potatoes and beans.
Serve with glazed carrots and a sweet and sour tomato and onion salad.