African Peanut Stew

By Pam Hadder

I love African peanut soup and stew and have been trying various recipes for over 20 years! Typically, I don't experiment too much with the recipes, because they aren't from my cultural origin, but I wasn't quite getting the flavours that pleased me. 

This recipe was made out of my head, inspired by many years of trying peanut stew and peanut soup recipes, and is a vegan version. If you eat meat, you could easily add chopped cooked chicken and could use chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth.  Other additions could to boost protein are tofu and chick peas - tofu can be cubed, seasoned and pan fried first and added at serving time; chick peas can also be seasoned and lightly oiled, then pan fried or baked to add to the stew. Nice garnishes are fresh chopped cilantro, parsley, peanuts, cherry tomatoes or greek yogurt (any or all of these items pair really nicely) - be creative with what you have on hand and what you enjoy eating.  I love this soup "as is" with a scoop of steaming rice, but it is also fun to have a few options on hand allowing your family and friends to customize their bowl!

I hope you will will feel free to put your own stamp upon this recipe, based upon your flavour preferences and dietary needs. Enjoy in good health xox

Pam's African Peanut Stew

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large cooking onion, finely chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2-4 cups water, depending on desired consistency
1 - 540 ml size tin diced tomatoes
2 sweet potatoes (approx. 750 g), peeled and cubed
1 - 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. crushed red chilies
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1-1/2 tsp. dry ground ginger
3 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
6-8 star anise pods
2/3 cups chunky peanut butter
4-6 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
*Optional: 1/2 lemon, juice and rind

Method:
Heat oil in a soup pot over medium heat, and stir in the onions, sea salt and black pepper.  Stirring frequently, loosely cover and cook onions 5-7 minutes until they begin to turn translucent. Add in the carrots and garlic, reducing heat, and loosely covering - cook an additional 10-12 minutes, adding a bit of water or vegetable stock if the vegetables begin to brown.  You want the veggies to soften, but not caramelize - you may need to reduce the heat.   After cooking the carrots with the onions for 10-12 minutes, add in the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetable stock, all seasonings and spices - reserve the star anise, peanut butter and spinach.  Add enough water so that all vegetables are covered.  Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and loosely cover - allow to simmer 45 minutes.  When there is 15 minutes left on the 45 minute timer, I start my basmati rice (recipes follows).  Add in the peanut butter and star anise pods, along with all of the spinach. Optional - squeeze in juice of 1/2 lemon, and removing, seeds, cut squeezed rind in quarters and add it to the broth.  Stir well and simmer an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove the star anise pods and lemon rind, if used, serve in bowls over a scoop of hot basmati rice.

Method/Recipe - Basmati Rice:
1 - 1/2 cups dry measure rice
3 cups cold water
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. coconut oil

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Add in the dry measure of rice and the salt. Cook, stirring frequently for 3-5 minutes. Add in the water, increasing heat to bring to a boil. When the rice boils vigorously, reduce the heat to low, tightly cover and set a timer for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, turn off stove element, uncover and stir the rice, recover and let stand 3-5 minutes. Serve as desired.