West African Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew

I made this stew the first time last winter. The flavors were so intriguing to me,when I saw the recipe I just had to try it. The primary ingredients of this soup are sweet potatoes and natural peanut butter, flavored with hot chile pepper, allspice, ginger and garlic, and garnished with fresh cilantro. Now doesn't that sound like a  refreshing, hearty and unusual combination of flavors?



Sweet Potato Peanut Stew
Adapted from this Eating Well recipe

2-4 medium sweet potatoes
1 TBS canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 can stewed tomatoes
1-2 small green chiles, seeds removed, diced
2 tsp fresh minced ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
1 15 ounce can vegetable broth
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
fresh ground pepper to taste
fresh cilantro to garnish

1. First, partially cook the sweet potatoes. Doing this in the microwave saves a lot of time. Prick each one in a couple of places, and then place on a paper towel, and microwave individually for about 2 minutes each. After they have cooled removed the skin, and chop into 1 inch chunks.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pot. Add onions and cook until translucent and just starting to brown. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute.

3. Add in the stewed tomatoes, stock, green chiles, ginger and allspice. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add in the potatoes and peanut butter. Using a hand blender (or removing half of the soup at a time into a blender) puree the soup until mostly smooth. Thin with additional broth or water if desired (the picture above is a bit thicker than I usually serve this).

5. Garnish with Cilantro, serve.