Maafe (West African peanut stew)
Sep. 25th, 2021 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nerwengreen1 pound chuck roast in small chunks*
1 small onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
half inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
2 carrots
1 large orange kumara (sweet potato)
1 large red kumara
3 yams
[for the two above, maybe just add more sweet potato if no yams or kumara]
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 quarts beef or chicken broth (depending whether you want to end up with a soup or stew)
half a small jar of peanut butter (maybe two large spoonfuls)
chopped roasted peanuts if the peanut butter isn't already chunky
black pepper
cayenne pepper (or diced fresh hot pepper of some other sort, scotch bonnet is authentic)
Brown the meat in the bottom of the soup pot with black pepper and cayenne pepper. Add onions. Stir. Add garlic and ginger. Stir. Add tomatoes. Stir. Add broth. Simmer for about an hour (the beef takes a while to cook). Add carrots, peanut butter, and peanuts. Simmer for another half hour. Add the kumara, yams, hot pepper (or cayenne). Simmer for another half hour or until the kumara is soft.
The authentic Senegalese version includes cabbage (according to Google). Various online recipes suggest kale or other leafy greens. I think collards would go really well in this (we sadly don't have collards in NZ). The recipe I originally saw from Whittier included spinach (stir it in in the last few minutes, let it wilt, turn off heat). I've also recently learned that black nightshade leaves are a valid vegetable in Africa, and we have tons of it as weeds during the summer, so I might try that at some point.
*For the meat, it's either beef, lamb, or dark meat chicken, ideally bone-in, or you can leave it out to be vegetarian. Not pork, the people who eat this stew regularly are mostly Muslim. (For similar reasons I never use beef in Indian curries.)
1 small onion, diced
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
half inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
2 carrots
1 large orange kumara (sweet potato)
1 large red kumara
3 yams
[for the two above, maybe just add more sweet potato if no yams or kumara]
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 quarts beef or chicken broth (depending whether you want to end up with a soup or stew)
half a small jar of peanut butter (maybe two large spoonfuls)
chopped roasted peanuts if the peanut butter isn't already chunky
black pepper
cayenne pepper (or diced fresh hot pepper of some other sort, scotch bonnet is authentic)
Brown the meat in the bottom of the soup pot with black pepper and cayenne pepper. Add onions. Stir. Add garlic and ginger. Stir. Add tomatoes. Stir. Add broth. Simmer for about an hour (the beef takes a while to cook). Add carrots, peanut butter, and peanuts. Simmer for another half hour. Add the kumara, yams, hot pepper (or cayenne). Simmer for another half hour or until the kumara is soft.
The authentic Senegalese version includes cabbage (according to Google). Various online recipes suggest kale or other leafy greens. I think collards would go really well in this (we sadly don't have collards in NZ). The recipe I originally saw from Whittier included spinach (stir it in in the last few minutes, let it wilt, turn off heat). I've also recently learned that black nightshade leaves are a valid vegetable in Africa, and we have tons of it as weeds during the summer, so I might try that at some point.
*For the meat, it's either beef, lamb, or dark meat chicken, ideally bone-in, or you can leave it out to be vegetarian. Not pork, the people who eat this stew regularly are mostly Muslim. (For similar reasons I never use beef in Indian curries.)
