Audrey’s West African Peanut Stew
This one comes from lovely Juicy Tuesday guest chef, Ms. Audrey Peterson ~
"I was looking for a way to eat healthy and expand my menu beyond our borders and decided to turned to West Africa, a place where, I share DNA with people from Benin, Togo, Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria, but whose cuisine always seemed as faraway and out of reach for me as that ancient city in Mali, Timbuktu.
The memory of eating a bowl of peanutty, gingery super savory West African Stew long ago at a restaurant here NYC sent me on a mission to recreate the dish, but vegetarian style. I am an omnivore, but wanted to try a non-meat version as I move to a more plant-based diet.
This recipe combines the traditional West African ingredients of sweet potatoes - which are not true yams, but got the name because the lovely orange tuber we commonly eat today is called nyami in places in West Africa, which we shortened to "yams,"- and peanuts. Enslaved Africans here in America made peanuts, groundnuts or as many southerners called them, goobers (from the Bantu Kikongo word for peanut, nguba) popular as early as the colonial period, when they served them in peanut soup.
A third addition to the stew, greens - which the Afro-descended everywhere use in abundance - nicely rounds out the main ingredients. I think this stew is tastier with what I call the forgotten greens - collards, turnips, and mustard. These are the greens of my childhood growing up as the child of a black man from Alabama, who ate greens almost every day when he was a kid. Their flat leaves and distinct strong, bitter, and musky flavors add balance and complexity, and blend into the stew readily." - Audrey
(Serves four to six depending on hunger factor) If at all possible, always use fresh, local, and organic ingredients.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons peanut oil (coconut oil is fine too)
1 red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
4 cups of vegetable broth (homemade is best)
4 to 5 small sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
(16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
Bunch of collard greens, roughly chopped (kale works too if you can't find collards)
1 cup chunky peanut butter (get the good stuff with no added ingredients, only peanuts!)
1 (16 ounce) can of Great Northern beans or 2 cups of home cooked as you prefer (other beans work great too)
Red pepper flakes (optional)
How To:
Heat the oil in a large pot with medium-high heat.
Add onion, ginger, and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring so as not to stick.
Pour the vegetable stock over the mixture.
Stir the sweet potatoes into the liquid and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir the tomatoes, greens, beans, and peanut butter into the soup.
Add the peanut butter in smaller chunks and stir well.
Season with sea salt and pepper.
For spicy stew add a tablespoon of red pepper flakes.
Partially cover the pot again and cook, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes or until the sweet potato are ready.
Sacha’s Notes - this dish is very versatile. When I made it, I wanted to use up half a Kabocha squash so threw that in with the sweet potatoes, and for leftovers the next day added some broccoli and some more fresh greens, for a little variety. It's delightfully easy to make and you will likely say YUM with every mouthful. I also put extra garlic in ours just because!
Audrey Peterson is a writer and editor in New York City specializing in black history and culture. She is always looking to explore and celebrate her twin West African and European heritages. Food is just one of the ways in which she does that. For a taste of black history and culture in New York City, please visit Audrey's Facebook page -Gotham City Soul