Groundnut Stew

“Groundnut” is actually another word for peanut.   Groundnut stew refers to a stew made with peanut butter.

Whether this stew resembles a traditional African groundnut stew is immaterial for my purposes - it just tastes good and has become a cool weather favorite of mine!

Cooking the okra at high heat until the “okra” slime dissipates might seem like a step that’s easy to skip, but I find it to be essential.  Once,  I skipped this step and added the okra to the stew and the entire stew turned slimy. It still tasted good, but the texture wasn’t very appetizing. 

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons peanut oil, divided
• 1 cup red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sweet potato, diced
• I medium-sized eggplant, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups okra, chopped
• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 ounces baby spinach, chopped
• ¼ cup peanuts, chopped

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, sauté the onions and garlic in 1 teaspoon of peanut oil until fragrant and translucent. Add the eggplant, tomato, and sweet potatoes and cook, stirring frequently for 5 more minutes
2. The broth, coconut milk, ginger, red pepper flakes and basil. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes
3. While that’s simmering, cook the okra on high in a large skillet in the remaining teaspoon of oil. Stir frequently and cook until the okra-slime dissipates. (This could take between 10 and 15 minutes.)
4. Add the okra, chickpeas, peanut butter and salt to the stew. Stir to dissolve the peanut butter, and cook uncovered for another 10 – 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender and the eggplant is soft. Stir in the spinach.  
5. Top with chopped peanuts and enjoy!

Serves 4