Maafe, a vegetarian (vegan) version

 

  This is a lovely stew that I made for supper on this Meatless Monday. I recently (a year and a half ago ? lol) picked up a lovely cookbook called "Food From Across Africa" written by 3 young African chefs that started a bi-monthly supper club called The Groundnut in London, to bring awareness of the magic of African culinary delights to the world. I play with recipes always... making them vegetarian or substituting what ingredients I have on hand that I think will fit.  I have been making more and more Asian, Indian, Egyptian and African dishes since we started eating more vegetarian meals. At least every other day I try to make a meatless meal, for reasons both health and carbon footprint oriented. Not to mention pandemic budgetary reasons.  This stew is the 3rd African dish I have made and we were delighted with it.  The more traditional Maafe recipes include meat, either chicken or lamb, and sometime I will try that as well. 

  So.  The protein component in this stew would be the peanuts and chickpeas.  When you eat vegetarian, you have to be mindful of nutrition. Mac and cheese just don't get it.  lol So the protein and fiber content of chickpeas make for a powerhouse of nutrition for very little money.  I teamed this stew up with some brown rice and a couple of slices of some fresh made honey oat multigrain bread.  It was a delicious meal, very satisfying and simple to make. The hardest part was peeling the butternut squash, lol.  Let's get started:

  West African Groundnut Stew (Maafe)

ingredients

2 T oil (sesame is what I used, olive oil or vegetable oil works too)

1 med. onion, diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 Scotch Bonnet or Jalapeno pepper (optional)

2 inches scrubbed grated ginger

1 Tbsp Cumin

2 tsp Coriander

2 tsp Paprika

2 Tbsp tomato paste

4-6 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth if you don't care)

1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 cup natural peanut butter

kale or spinach

Salt and Pepper to taste

 Crushed peanuts [and cilantro] to garnish

  Heat the oil in a pot (** I used my instapot. I cooked the ingredients initially on the brown/sear menu button, then changed it to soup/stew when I was adding the broth and stuff **) Cook the onions, garlic and ginger (and peppers if you use them--I did not) in the oil. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the cumin,coriander,paprika to the mix and cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the tomato paste, vegetable broth, chickpeas,squash and peanut butter to the pan and mix well. Stir it up good to make sure the peanut butter is melted and incorporated. Bring this to a boil and then turn down heat and simmer about 25 minutes, until the butternut squash is tender. At the very end, before dishing it up, add spinach or kale and a handful of peanuts. Salt and Pepper totaste.  Let the spinach wilt and it's ready to serve. I made brown rice and put about 1/3 of a bowl of rice, mooshed over to the side and filled the bowl with the stew, as you can see by the picture. I didn't have any cilatro to garnish it with, so I just sprinkled some peanuts over the top.  

  If you try it, give me a shout and let me know !!

Great Gods Gertie !!!! It's almost the last of February !!

 

  Yep, the last week of February. It zipped right past.  The weather here in the middle of the country has been either brutal or beautiful. We're in a string of beautiful [mostly] right now, mostly 50's and 60's with a 40 thrown in here and there, just so you don't get too cocky.  It's brilliantly sunny and the skies are blue.  Yesterday it was so nice that the baby dog (Myma, pictured, who is about 6 now I guess)  decided to make a run for it. She managed to get out of her collar and off the leash and headed straight for the hills. She won't come when you call her, just speeds off in the opposite direction if she spots you.  So she was gone for about 4 hours or more. When this happens (not as often as you might think) I worry that she'll get hit by a car or attacked by neighboring dogs.  But somehow she manages to make it back safe and sound and all my worrying is for naught.  This picture is her FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING, after she ran her little legs off. She is a MinPin and miniature beagle mix, and has the worst traits of both breeds.  But...she's ours and we love her.  I took Bella down the road later and she and I walked as much as 2 old ladies can. We stopped twice and went off road and explored some creek areas and flatlands. I'm going to try and take her again today, but not sure if we'll make it. Have to see how I feel. The Irishman generously gave me the bug he had all weekend. Not really sick, just a little raspy and tired around the edges. 

  I am going to make the big batch of bread dough  later today or tomorrow. The one that sits out for 24 hours and then goes in the fridge and you cut off chunks of it to make a loaf or 2 as you need it.  Grocery prices are stupid, shelves are starting to look empty again and bread prices are crazy. We don't eat white bread and the decent multi grains or wheat breads are 5-6 bucks a loaf.  No thanks.  Too easy to make. 

  Realized that I appear to be out of home canned chicken last week as I was fixing some soup and some chicken salad to take to a friend who just had a hip replacement. Hard to believe I've used all that. maybe there is a box somewhere with some more jars in it, but I'm sure not seeing them. That means it's time to look for some sales on the 10# bags of leg and thigh quarters.  I have made lots of soups and stews and stuff this past winter, so not really surprised.  I still have quite a bit of corned beef and pork loin that I canned, but the pork loin is dwindling.  Sigh... this householding stuff just never stops. lol  And soon it will be spring. Then the big decisions have to be made about whether we attempt gardens again this year after a 2+ year hiatus.  We really need to. We really need to get back to work at being more self sufficient, the way we were a few years back when we had big gardens and chickens. The way the world is going, I don't see how we can't... and then, of course, there's just life.... this from a post in 2014...

https://dragonwomansmysticalmeals.blogspot.com/2014/06/eating-from-my-pantry.html#comment-form

  Okay.  Guess I'll mosey on away from this computer and think about what to make for supper. Meatless Monday here, so it will be easier maybe.  lol  

  [[Not sure what the problem is here. The hyperlink won't highlight or work. If you drag your mouse across to highlight it, it will let you go to the blogpost from 2014.  grrrr....]]