The World in your Kitchen 2010 – Gambia and Senegal – Mafé

After taking a hiatus on my international cooking (my time has been consumed by knitting and dancing believe it or not) I finally came back to my good ole trusty 2010 calendar, I did skip the March recipe for now because it was a litte too simple and more of a “snacky” type food but I will definitely come back to it at a later time. And even though it’s already May I wanted to share the recipe for April. It’s called Mafé and it’s a peanut stew from Gambia and Senegal. It’s a vegetarian dish, like all of the recipes from the calendar, and it looked so good on paper that I was very much excited to finally try it out…

The calendar introduces ther recipe by saying:

“Mafé, a traditional dish of the Wolof people of Senegal and Gambia, is one of the many variations of the African groundnut stew. This vegetarian/vegan version of the basic recipe uses beans, onion, palm nut oil, tomato paste, peanuts or peanut butter, some vegetables, chilies, bell pepper, salt, pepper and water. Chop and boil the vegetables first – then keep the stock to use in the dish.”

This recipe serves 6. It takes 20 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. cooked black eyed or pinto beans (I cheated and used canned but it worked excellent! Make sure you rinse the beans before adding them to the stew)
2 onions, finely chopped (again, I cheated and used the freeze dried kind… worked like a charm)
1 cup peanuts or all natural peanut butter (means that the only ingredient in the jar should be peanuts! Nothing else!)
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
6 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1-2 chilie, left whole (I used one, just in case it was too hot)
2 cups chopped vegetables, cooked, retaining stock. (use all or a combination of cabbage, carrot, potato, sweet potato, eggplant, squash or turnip)
1/2 cup palm nut or other oil (canola worked fine)
salt and pepper

Preparation:
1. Begin by heating the oil in a large cooking pot. Fry he onions over a high heat.
2. Next, add the pepper, tomatoes and chilies. Fry for a few minutes before adding the stock, peanuts or peanut butter and tomato paste. Stir to mix the ingredients and then simmer gently for a few minutes.
3. Add the beans and the cooked vegetables. Season and then leave to simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until everything is cooked. Stir frequently and add more liquid if it becomes too dry. Serve with rice and sliced avocado and parsley.

Verdict and Notes:
First thing I did after tasting this was say “WOW!”, it is very, very good! Just my luck, it was the first time in months that I don’t have avocado in my fridge but it was fine just like that. I served over rice and enjoyed every spoonful of it! It was definitely a lot for just me so I shared with some friends but I’ve yet to hear back from them, I do trust them enough to be truthful in their review but I am confident that they will love it as well.
I used a bit of veggie low sodium buillon when I cooked the vegetables and that added that extra seasoning that I found completely delish. This is definitely a dish you can make for the week and freeze for later use as either lunches or a quick dinner. I am so sad for anyone who’s allergic to peanuts not being able to taste this gem of a stew. (That’s right, I said gem to describe it, that’s how good it is!).
Bon Appetit!

Quote today:
“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”
– African Proverb