Soul food doesn’t even begin to describe this stew!
I’m stoked because this is the first recipe I’m sharing from Angela Liddon’s infamous The Oh She Glows Cookbook, which I received as a present from my sister last Christmas. It took another spring and summer to pass before the season was right for this again!
If you don’t have any African cuisine in your arsenal (I didn’t!), this recipe is your intro. While there are quite a few ingredients, it’s easy to prepare and will wow guests if you’re serving it at a dinner party.
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1 diced sweet onion
3 minced garlic cloves
1 diced red bell pepper
1 peeled and chopped sweet potato
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
Fine grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 c natural peanut butter
4 c vegetable broth
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
2 handfuls baby spinach or destemmed, torn kale leaves
Cilantro or parsley
Roasted peanuts
Optional ingredients:
1 seeded and diced jalapeno
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
In a large pot, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute about 5 minutes (until onion is translucent). Add bell pepper, jalapeno (if using), sweet potato and tomatoes (with juices). Raise the heat to medium-high and simmer for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, whisk the peanut butter and 1 cup of broth until smooth. Stir into the vegetables and add remaining 3 c broth, chili powder, and cayenne pepper (if using). Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20 minutes (or until the sweet potato is fork-tender). Stir in the beans and spinach/kale if using and cook until the leaves are wilted. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Garnish each serving with cilantro/parsley and roasted peanuts. Serves 6.
Tips:
- I used both jalapeno and cayenne pepper. As long as you remove the jalapeno seeds, I don’t find the spice level very high at all, but you can always adjust to your liking.
- In the cookbook it looks like she used yams (which are more orange than the sweet potatoes in Canada). So you could use a yam no problem.
- I used about 3 shakes of Herbamare salt, and then 4 shakes right before serving, which was probably no more than 1/2 tsp. salt total.
- I used smooth, unsalted peanut butter.
- Since I’m sensitive to chickpeas I swapped them for pinto beans, which are awesome IMO!
- If you don’t like combining carbs and protein, you could omit either the sweet potato or beans, but I find the combo fine (and I have sensitivities).
- I used spinach in this photo and added a mini Boulart baguette.
- My grocery store didn’t have cilantro when I made this and I try to avoid peanuts, but this recipe was still pretty awesome without either.
Have you tried this staple recipe? Let us know in the comments!
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