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

Fun Facts:

- The country is called “Africa in miniature” for its geological and cultural diversity.
-Portuguese sailors reached the Cameroon coast in 1472. They noted an abundance of prawns and crayfish in the Wouri River and named it Rio dos Camarões, Portuguese for “River of Prawns”, and the phrase from which Cameroon is derived.

RECIPE: Fish Stew with Rice

2 slices Onion
5 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons tomato concentrate (I used tomato paste, seemed to work fine)
2 lb. fish, boned and cut in large pieces (just got fish filets)
1 & 1/2 pints water
2 teaspoons salt
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 lb. cabbage, shredded
2 small sweet potatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
1/4 lb. okra (1/2 packet frozen okra)
1 lb. cooked rice

Okra Added

Cook Onion in hot oil until tender but not brown
Add tomato concentrate and fish. Cover and cook over low heat for 1/2 hour.
Add water, salt and vegetables to fish mixture; cook gently for 1 hour.
Place a portion of rice in the centre of a plate and ladle stew over rice.

k.. the idea was a good one. Something unusual with ingredients that were pretty easy to come by. Overall prep was quite easy, cook time was an hour and a half but nothing too laborious overall. I have to say though that I was dissapointed, this is one recipe that MUST be eaten hot and right away, if you’re planning on leftovers I would suggest a different recipe and, if you are cooking for picky eaters maybe leave out the okra, if you haven’t cooked okra before just keep in mind that once it’s cooked it has a “strange”consistency, for lack of a better word, it’s a little slimy.

Not sure if I did something wrong or if this is the way the stew was supposed to be the day after but the consistency was not the best. I used whole grain rice, as always, and followed the recipe to the letter. It didn’t specify the type of fish required so I used cod filets. If someone else has cooked a Cameroon fish stew and had it turn out delicious please let me know if you used a secret ingredient that I may have missed? Basically the ingredients called for in the recipe were: Onion, tomato concentrate (I used tomato paste), 2lbs fish, water, salt, carrots, cabbage, sweet potatoes, okra (1/4 lb. fresh, 1/2 pkg frozen) and 1 lb. cooked rice.  The stew was pretty good the first day but if you’re planning to freeze or save for leftovers then I wouldn’t recommend it.

Also, and this is quite important. The smell lingered for a couple of days. It was a not too pleasant fishy smell. Again, this could be because of the type of fish I used or maybe something I may have done wrong… Although I’d like to think that it was the fish since I haven’t EVER screwed up a recipe

***UPDATE!***
I hate to throw out food so I tried to change this up a bit. After reheating  each serving I added sour cream and a bit of salt. It changed both the taste and the consistency enough to make it good. I wouldn’t call it scrumptious but it was edible and I was able to save it from going in the garburator!