West African Groundnut Stew
This soup has been promised to us for staff lunch pretty much since the first butternut squash started rolling out of the garden. It sounded delicious, but it wasn’t forthcoming. We will not name the employee who boasted about this family recipe and then kept us waiting to taste it for well over a month.
Suffice to say, the promise was eventually made good and we got to come in from a cold day of work to slurp up this delicious stew. There wasn’t a lot of talking. It was that good.
Turns out it was totally worth the wait. . . Katie.
Ingredients
2 lbs Chicken or Beef
—If using chicken, choose thighs and legs on the bone
—If using beef, choose cubed stew meat
1 Onion, diced
4 medium cloves Garlic, minced
1 3-inch piece Ginger, minced
Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar (we use MadHouse ACV)
2 lbs Sweet Potato and/or Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
6 cups Chicken Stock or Water
1 15oz can Crushed Tomatoes
¼ c Creamy Peanut Butter
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
½ lb Kale, chopped
*Salted Peanuts for garnish
Directions
Heat 3 Tbsp vegetable oil in a deep cast iron skillet or dutch oven. Generously salt the chicken or beef and brown on all sides over medium high heat. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, cook the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook just until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes more. Deglaze the pan with a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar and add back in the browned meat and the cubed sweet potatoes and/or butternut squash.
Pour in the stock or water, the can of crushed tomatoes with all its juice, and a big scoop of peanut butter. Give it a good 4 finger pinch of kosher salt, as much cayenne pepper as you can stand (start with 1 tsp if you’re not sure about the spice level), cover the pot, and simmer on low for about 45 minutes. You’re looking for the meat to be cooked through and falling off the bone and the sweet potatoes/butternut squash to be tender but not turned to mush.
If using chicken, remove from the stew and shred the meat off the bone. Put the shredded meat right back in.
For a creamier texture, ladle out about half of the sweet potatoes/butternut squash and stock. You can do this step after you have removed the chicken and are waiting for it to cool before shredding, or just be sure to avoid laddling up any pieces of beef if using beef! Puree in a blender and pour back into the stew. Otherwise, leave it all as is for a brothier stew.
Adjust for seasoning, adding cayenne pepper and salt as needed. Stir in the chopped kale just a few minutes before serving and garnish with crunchy roasted salted peanuts.