September 7 - African Meat Stew With Peanut Butter

African beef stew with peanut butter is popularly known as Maffe. It is a basic African stew with ground peanuts (or creamy peanut butter). You can pretty much use any meat, like pork, goat meat or chicken.

The sauce has a subtle sweet taste that the kids enjoyed. I used the Jif Chunky Peanut Butter so the soup has chunky bits of peanuts.

African Peanut Butter Beef Stew

Ingredients
2 cups water
2 Knorr beef bullion
1 cup Jif chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large Vidalia (sweet) onion, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
4 lbs beef chuck, cut for stew
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 medium sized carrots, cut 1" thick
2 green bell pepper, cut in 1" squares
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves


Cooking Time (2 hours)
In a small pot, boil 2 cups of water and melt together the beef bullion and peanut butter.
Set aside.
In a large casserole, heat the olive oil in medium heat.
Saute the garlic and onion for 5 minutes.
Season the beef with salt and pepper.
Add the beef and cook for about 20 minutes, in high heat.
Note that since the beef will produce a lot of liquid, the beef will not get browned.
Add the peanut butter mixture.
Add the tomatoes, carrots, green bell pepper, thyme and bay leaves.
Mix well.
Simmer the stew for 90 minutes or until the meat is tender.
Serve warm with white rice.

September 14 - Zesty Poulet Yassa

I have to leave the familiar world of European and Asian cuisine and surf the web for some African recipes. Interesting to see a lot of chicken recipes. I picked Poulet (Chicken) Yassa, acclaimed to be a famous Senegalese recipe.

The striking taste of this dish came from marinading the chicken and onions in lemon juice and vinegar (lots of it). I skipped the cayenne pepper, since I was serving this to my kids. But the overall taste was amusingly strong, even for me.

Poulet Yassa

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut-up
2 big sweet onions, thinly sliced
8 tbsp lemon juice
8 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 bay leaf
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp mustard
small cabbage, cut-up
4 carrots. cut-up
2 chicken bullion cubes
4 tbsp vegetable oil for cooking

Preparation:
Mix the chicken, onions, garlic, bay leaf, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Marinade the chicken overnight.

Cooking Time: (30 minutes)
Drain the chicken and onions. Saute the chicken in a large pan until slightly browned. In another pan, saute the onions until caramelized. Add the marinade, mustard, chicken bullion, and carrots to the onions. Cook for 10 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the chicken to the vegetables. Serve with rice or couscous.