bredie, noun
- Forms:
- Show more Also brady, brédé, brede, bredee, bredi, breede, breedi, breidie.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, South African Dutch, PortugueseShow more Afrikaans, earlier South African Dutch, perhaps from Portuguese bredo any of several species of the widely distributed plant Amaranthus which is sometimes cooked as a vegetable; see quotations 1815 to 1870.
a. A stew or ragout of meat (usually mutton) with vegetables. Also attributive, and occasionally figurative.
1815 A. Plumptre tr. of H. Lichtenstein’s Trav. in Sn Afr. (1930) II. 82Breedi signifies in the Madagascar tongue Spinage; the word is brought hither by the slaves, and at present, throughout the whole colony, every sort of vegetable which, like cabbage, spinage or sorrel, is cut to pieces and dressed with Cayenne pepper is included under the general term Breedi.
1994 Weekend Post 16 July (Leisure)Bredie, a traditional Cape dish, is made from meat and vegetables, simmered slowly together for full flavour. Mutton or lamb are used for bredie and the cuts are rib, breast, neck or shank. Add only a small amount of water. A bredie is often served in the pot in which it was cooked.
b. With distinguishing epithet signifying a particular type of bredie according to the ingredients used:
bean bredie or boontjes bredie /ˈbʊɪŋkis-/ [Afrikaans, boon bean + diminutive suffix -ie], a bredie made using either dried- or green beans;
wortelbredie /ˈvɔː(r)təl-/ [Afrikaans, wortel carrot], see quotation 1970. See also quotation 1890 (sense a above).
1889 ‘A Housewife of the Colony’ Col. Hsehold Guide 27Bean Brede. Prepare the meat as in the cabbage brede, but instead of cabbage use some beans (French), cut into short pieces...For tomato brede see tomato stew, which is prepared in the same way.
1988 F. Williams Cape Malay Cookbk 95The mourners are usually provided with something to eat. In the past, this would have been wortel and ertjie bredie or sugar bean bredie.
A stew or ragout of meat (usually mutton) with vegetables. Also attributive, and occasionally figurative.
- Derivatives:
- Hence bredie transitive verb nonce, to make (something) into a bredie.1994 G. Willoughby in Weekly Mail & Guardian 8 July 38The accent here is on the fresh-boiled, bredied or blommetjied. The dishes have names like ‘snoek paté Houtbaai’ and ‘ostrich Oud[t]shoorn’.
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