If you look around online for other variations of this recipe, please take note that the majority are 5 star rated. That’s what it looks like when a dish just works. We really love a lot of vegetarian African specialties, and you will often find region or country-specific variations on widely used classics.You can read more about the history of peanut stew here. The dish more often uses collard greens, but because I don’t tend to have them on hand very often (not because I don’t love collards but because when they only come in super large bundles that are a struggle for Nick and I to get through, hence collard green spanakopita) I use spinach. I also like it SPICY. I don’t know what Nick has done to me over the years but I honestly went from someone who would opt for mild to someone who feels like they need to bring hot sauce with them everywhere.
Scotch Bonnets are my jam, the floral heat is just unbeatable so obvs I suggest them but you can really use habaneros interchangeably. If you can’t get your hands on those, I suppose you could use jalapeños but I don’t like it….preferably opt for a shit-ton of tabasco. This dish is supposed to be spicy, so if you aren’t into spicy please use this opportunity to challenge yourself to add a bit of heat, the complexity and balance of flavors will turn you I promise.
The dish itself is simple to make but the flavors are really pow-pow. Sometimes I throw on some crunchy slaw. Accompany with rice, fufu, or a chapati.
Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
- half a tub of peanut butter
- one sweet potato, diced
- 4 cups of veg broth
- one onion, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp coriander, chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 big handfuls of spinach
- 1.5 scotch bonnets, minced
- tin of peeled tomatoes
Sautee onion, garlic, ginger and pepper until onion is transluscent. Add sweet potato and tomatoes and break them up a bit in the pan. Add broth and stir. Let simmer on low heat until sweet potatoes are cooked – about 20 mins. Take out a third to puree in your food processor and then return to pan. Remove from heat, stir in spinach, peanut butter, and lemon juice. Let sit for ten more minutes and serve.
