My recipes often come from a need to use up something in a pantry or the fridge. And unintentionally, I cook mostly vegetarian for myself a lot of the time. This is how this dish came to existence. It was one of those moments where everything worked and a super tasty meal was the result! I am terrible TERRIBLE at writing down recipes when I am just trying to get something nourishing cooked so I don’t have to eat processed food. There is always flexibility with ingredients in recipes like this, feel free to omit or add as your taste buds desire.

From Wikipedia: Peanut stew or groundnut stew, also called as maafe (Wolof, mafé, maffé, maffe), sauce d’arachide (French), tigadèguèna or domoda, is a stew that is a staple food in Western Africa.^[1] It originates from the Mandinka and Bambara people of Mali.

I first learned of peanut stew from a Ghanaian friend who served this at a dinner party they hosted. I was instantly obsessed and wanted to recreate it to have again. I have since made that dish a number of times. Because I had most of the ingredients already in the house, I pulled from the original African Peanut Stew recipe to make this dish.

Ingredients

FOR THE STEW:
1 tbs coconut oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 thumb ginger chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 serrano diced (optional)

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into ½-inch pieces

1 can 28 oz (or 2- 12 oz cans) diced tomatoes, with their juices

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup peanut butter

4 cups broth of choice (vegetable or chicken are best)

1½ tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

(not pictured) chopped collards

Fresh cilantro or parsley

Roasted peanuts, chopped

FOR THE ZUCCHINI:
1 medium size zucchini, cut into long ribbons with a spiralizer

1/2 cup nooch (nutritional yeast)

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/2 yellow or white onion, diced fine

1/2 tsp berbere

1/2 cup white wine

Preparation

1. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.

2. Add the bell pepper, serrano (if using), sweet potato, and tomatoes with their juices. Raise the heat to medium-high and simmer for 5 minutes more. Season the vegetables with salt and black pepper.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the peanut butter and 1 cup of the broth until smooth. Stir the mixture into the vegetables along with the remaining 3 cups broth, chili powder, and the red pepper flakes (if using).

4. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, or until the sweet potato is fork-tender.

5. While the stew is cooking start the sauce for the zucchini.

6. Add coconut oil to pan and sweat the finely chopped onions and garlic. Deglaze with white wine

7. Add stock and nooch and let cook until nappe. Remove from heat

8. Toss zucchini into sauce until it warms through

9. Stir in the chickpeas and collards and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

10. Ladle the stew into bowls, twirl zucchini and stack on top of stew, and garnish with cilantro or parsley and roasted peanuts.

*mint is an additional herb that, although not traditional, really works well.
*can be served over fufu or steamed white rice

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