Peanut Butter Stew!!

Vegetable Mafe (From Senegal)

2 Large Onions, finely chopped
4 Tblsp peanut oil
2c pumpkin, winter squash, or sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped into chunks
4 turnips
4 medium potatoes, quartered
2 large carrots, chopped into chunks
1/2 a head of small cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 bunch of fresh leafty greens (spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens) or 1 small package frozen greens
2 chili peppers or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
3/4 cup peanut butter

Brown the onions in moderately hot oil in a large, heavy skillet or stew pot.  Add the vegetables, one at a time, sauteing each for a minute or so before adding another.

Stir in tomato sauce, along with about a cup of water, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are tender.  Spoon out about half a cup of the hot broth and mix it with the peanut butter to make a smooth paste.  Add to the pot, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.  Serve over rice or a stiff porridge.


From The African News Cookbook
African Cooking for Western Kitchens
Africa News Services, Inc.
Edited by Tami Hultman

From Penguin Books, 1985


Cooking:

I did not leave nearly enough time to actually soften the vegetables (or I didn't chunk them small enough; it took me nearly an hour to simmer them to tender).  Using my largest pot, I ran out of room before getting in the tomatoes & greens.  And I subbed half the turnips with rutabagas--Safeway's turnips were fail that day.  In floating around the Internet looking for the difference between turnips & rutabagas, I noticed that Mafe is frequently cooked with beef (in place of some of the squash & excess of root veggies).  Happily enough, I chopped most of the vegetables right after work.  When Kyndra got home that night, it was simply a matter of chopping the onion--pondering and skipping the tomato--and starting to cook.

Not having peanut oil, I used butter instead.  And I used ground cayenne pepper instead of a fresh one.  I used an ultra dense winter squash called "kuri squash" that looks like a reddish-orange pumpkin.  I was hoping to use a substantial amount of it beings that was one thing that drew me to this recipe, but I couldn't fit very much into my pot (overcrowding had set int by the time I was preparing this).


Eating:
Wow!  This stew is so filling!!!  We served it over rice & a normal sized bowl was almost more then I could eat.  This would be great for a feast or large groups.  Kyndra & I have almost finished it after eating it for lunch & dinner for 3 solid days.  I wish I had known of this recipe in college when I always had a supply of peanut butter on hand & did vegetable soups regularly.


For next time:
Just fill the pot with whatever vegetables are on hand (probably more realistic) and using the 1c:2c:3/4c water:tomato sauce:peanut butter ratio for everything else.