This African Chicken peanut stew is a glorious and easy stew to make. It is cooked with a base of rich caramelise tomato sauce. It is delicious, flavourful and perfect for fall and winter weather. The dish is cooked with simple wholesome ingredients that you can find in any supermarket. This is a family staple i grew up eating and this recipe is foolproof and can be cooked within an hour. The combination of chicken, tomato sauce and peanut butter creates a magical combination. They compliment each other and merge into the most delicious stew.
This recipe is cook using my mum's and aunt's recipes back home in the The Gambia and Senegal. I have made this recipe many times with the same delicious result. Peanut butter stew, is the queen of all stews. Yes I know, that is a bold statement to make but I stand by it. If you love peanut butter this is for you, if you do not love peanut butter this is for you too. Give it a try and let me know how you feel.
Ingredients
- Rape seed oil: I used Rapeseed oil because it can be heated to a high temperature when cooking. It is also low in saturated fat and contains omegas, 3, 6 and 9 which is good for health benefits.
- Chicken thighs: When you are cooking Peanut butter stew it is important to have a good broth as a base, using meat with bone adds richness to the broth which enhances the flavour.
- Yellow onions: Use yellow onions because back home that is what my mum and aunties used for cooking this particular dish.
- Tomato paste: This is essential, get a good quality tomato paste. It is important for the tomato paste to be caramelised because it is one of the best flavour boosters to transform a dish.
- Fresh tomatoes: Get fresh ripe tomatoes of your choice.
- Sweet peppers: This will balance the stew by creating a slightly sweet taste that will help balance the tomato tartness.
- Garlic: It is essential.
- Scotch Bonnet or Chilli flakes: A little bit of kick is needed for this dish. However, if you cannot stand some heat please leave it out, it will not alter the taste.
- Carrots: It will help balance out the stew due to its sweetness.
- Potatoes: This is an essential when you are cooking peanut butter stew with meat potatoes are a most.
- Sweet Potatoes: Sweet potatoes add a bit of sweetness too, which is essential to balance the flavour profile.
- Bay Leaves: Bay leaves are one of those essential herbs that just elevate any dish and for this dish, it binds everything together.
- Black pepper: It balances the dish and rounds it together. This is one of the most important components of the dish.
- Chicken bouillon or Knorr seasoning: I use Knorr seasoning however you can substitute it with your favourite chicken bouillon.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Substitutions
You can substitute any vegetables in the recipe card with your favourite ones. The original recipe uses smooth peanut butter to cook the dish and there are no roast peanuts as garnish. But if you prefer crunchy peanut butter, you go for it. This will not alter the taste or flavour, it will add a bit of crunchiness.
- Smooth Peanut Butter - You can substitute it with crunchy peanut butter if that is your preference.
- Scotch bonnet - A little bit of kick is needed for this dish. However, if you cannot stand some heat please leave it out, it will not alter the taste.
- Vegetarian - Chicken thighs can be replaced with pulses or mushrooms to make this vegetarian.
Storage
The stew can be store in a tight container and freeze for a month or store in the fridge for a week.
Top tip
Saute the anions until translucent and saute the tomato paste until it is caramelise. This will enhances the stew flavour and boost the richness.
FAQ
Peanut stew is cooked using smooth peanut butter with a rich base of caramelised tomato sauce. Then you add the protein of your choice and some vegetables to round it up together. The stew is part of the Mandinka's tribe staple food. The Mandinka tribe trace their origins to a country in West Africa called Mali. The Mandinka tribe is predominately found in The Gambia and Senegal apart from Mali. In The Gambia Peanut stew is called "Domodah" and in Senegal, it is called "Maafe". It can be cooked using fish, beef, pork or beans (Vegan). There are different variations of the dish depending on the protein used to cook it. This dish is a staple in Gambian and Senegalese house wholes.
It is eaten with freshly cooked Jasmin rice, basmati rice or any white rice of your choice. We also eat it with couscous, which is also delicious. But, for a low-carb alternative, you can eat with cauliflower rice.
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
Recipe
African Chicken Peanut Stew
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 5-6 1x
Description
This African Chicken peanut stew is a glorious and easy stew to make. It is cooked with a base of rich caramelise tomato sauce. It is delicious, flavourful and perfect for fall and winter weather. The dish is cooked with simple wholesome ingredients that you can find in any supermarket. This is a family staple I grew up eating and this recipe is foolproof and can be cooked within an hour. The combination of chicken, tomato sauce and peanut butter creates a magical combination. They complement each other and merge into the most delicious stew.
Ingredients
- 100ml of Rapeseed oil
- 4 Skinless Chicken Thighs (Bone in)
- 1 Red Sweet Pepper (Blended or thinly chopped)
- 4 Garlic Cloves (Blended or thinly chopped)
- 2 Small Yellow Onions (Blended or thinly sliced)
- 1 Scotch Bonnet (Optional) (Blended or thinly chopped)
- 2 Medium Fresh Tomatoes (Blended or thinly chopped)
- 3 Tablespoons of Tomato Paste
- 1000 ml of Water
- 2 Teaspoons of Black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon of Chili Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon of Italian herb seasoning (optional)
- 3 Teaspoons of Knorr Seasoning (Aromat) or Chicken bouillon of your choice
- 1 Teaspoon of Salt
- 2 Bay leaves
- 6 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter
- 5 Baby Potatoes (Cut in halves)
- 4 Sweet potatoes (Cut in halves)
- 4 Carrots (Cut in halves or leave as whole)
Instructions
- Begin by lightly adding salt to the Chicken and set aside. Thinly slice or blend the onions, garlic, tomatoes, sweet pepper and scotch bonnet together and set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the chicken and sear both sides until brown then set aside.
- Add the blended vegetables and bay leaves to the oil and sauté until softened and translucent. Add the tomato paste, stirring often and continue to sauté until it has caramelised and significantly darkened in colour (deep crimson). This will take about 1-3 minutes, once the vegetables and the tomato paste have caramelised, add the chilli flakes, Italian herb seasoning and black pepper, then stir to combine.
- Now add 1000ml of water to the pan to deglaze, add the knorr seasoning and salt, stir and taste. Add the peanut butter to the pan, and stir until combined. Add the sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the chicken to the pot and leave it to simmer for 10 minutes with the pan lid closed.
- After the 10 minutes, stir the stew and cover the pot half close with the lid. Reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer until the oil has separated and flooded on top of the stew. Off the heat. The stew is ready. Serve with cooked rice. Bon appetite!
Notes
The vegetables should be blended using the pulse Botton. Or they can be thinly chopped.
Be careful when stirring the stew, it has a tendency to splatter around.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: Main meal
- Method: Stew
- Cuisine: West African/ Gambian
Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov. www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/home-food-fact-checker.
Albert says
What a spectacular stew, I really enjoyed it. This is now going to be on my family menu rotation. 🤗