July 21, 2009

African Peanut Stew

The other night I was trying come up with something different to do with chicken thighs and I came across some versions of this stew. From what I could gather, it's a popular dish in mostly central Africa and can be found with many variations. I think it's like any traditional regional dish. It's cheap to make, can feed a lot of people and every one's mom makes it a little different. I think you can find the heart of a culture in its "peasant" dishes as my husband likes to call them. Basic ingredients, lots of flavor and love. I ended up using what I had on hand and improvising, which turned out surprisingly well. If you like Indian cuisine and Thai, then I highly recommend you try this.

Peanut Stew:

  • 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 large can of tomatoes or about 2 cups of tomatoes (peeled and seeded)
  • 1 large yellow onion (diced)
  • 1 1/2-2 cups peanut butter (chunky or creamy)
  • 3 tablespoons curry powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
This dish is seriously so easy to make, I'm pretty sure you could throw it all in the crock pot too and it would be awesome. I made it on a uncharacteristically cloudy, cool and rainy Summer day here and it was perfect. Now all of the ingredients can and should be tweaked to suit your tastes. Start by adding the onions and a bit of oil and saute them just until they start to soften. I like to add some salt and pepper here as well. Add the tomatoes and let it come to a boil. If necessary you can add a little bit of water if it is too thick at this point. Lower to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 25 minutes before adding the curry powder and peanut butter.

We only believe in creamy PB in our house so I found that gave it a nice creamy texture. I added some chopped peanuts for garnish at the end for contrast and it worked. Let it simmer again for about 30 minutes. In another pan, brown the chicken on both sides and then transfer to the stew pot for another 30 minutes. The longer it simmers the more the flavors mesh and the creamier it becomes.

The curry powder gives it warmth and complexity but not necessarily heat. The two year old scarfed it down with no complaints so it obviously wasn't too spicy for him. Serve it over rice or couscous and you will be golden. I was feeling lazy this time so I didn't add any other vegetables but I think next time I will add some carrots. It would also make a nice dipping sauce on it's own if you blended the ingredients to make it smooth. I could just eat it up with a spoon.

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