Maafe (West African Peanut Stew)

Virginia is famous for its peanuts, but I recently learned that the history of Virginia peanut soup goes far beyond colonial Williamsburg.  Maafe, a traditional West African dish first made by the Mandinka and Bambara people of Mali, was brought to the United States through the slave trade and is the direct ancestor of Virginia peanut soup, according to African American foodways specialist Michael Twitty.  Maafe can be served with rice, couscous, or sweet potatoes, but when we made it the other night, we ate it as a stand-alone stew.  

I promise it tastes better than it looks.

Recipe:     
Maafe

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 onions, diced
• 1 - 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 - 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1.5 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 - 10 or 14 ounce bag of cole slaw cabbage 

First, heat the oil and garlic in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the onions and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then add all remaining ingredients except the cole slaw cabbage.  Stir together and bring to a boil.  Then add the cabbage and cook, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender and can be easily pierced with a fork.

Serve hot over rice or on its own.  Yields 6 servings.

Comments:
Taste:          

Rachel and I are maafe's new biggest fans.  The sauce is incredibly rich and creamy, and the peanut butter taste is subtle but pleasant.  My favorite part was that the acorn squash almost melts in your mouth.  Rachel compared the flavor of the sauce to chicken makhani.  Simon wasn't as keen on the dish because it lacked something to bite into, but I think serving it over rice or with some bread to dip in would add a bit more heft.

Accessibility:        

None of these ingredients is difficult to find.  You can substitute the bag of cole slaw for half of a head of cabbage, if you prefer. 

 Ease of Preparation:         

The recipe is pretty simple, but peeling the acorn squash was the opposite of simple.  It took forever to peel because of the ridges!  (We also don't have a vegetable peeler, which surely didn't help.)  Next time, I might try out these tips for peeling acorn squash: http://lazyhomesteader.com/2011/10/11/how-to-peel-an-acorn-squash/. 

Non-vegan friendliness:         

This dish has a great flavor and smooth texture, though I think it would be best eaten along with rice, bread, or something else (rather than on its own). 

Saffron-Spiked Moroccan Stew

Time for a guest blog by Simon! Carol was at a talk with the owner/founder of Sticky Fingers on Thursday night, so Rachel and I were left to fend for ourselves. Sometimes when Carol has other plans we make meat-centric dishes, but this dish had to last a few meals for everyone, so we went with the standard vegan. My dad visited last weekend and brought saffron, so we decided to try it out.

Recipe:
Saffron-Spiked Moroccan Stew

• Olive oil for sauteing
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 large bell peppers (any combination of red and green should be fine)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp ginger (preferably fresh, but dry works too)
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 1.5 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1-15oz can diced tomatoes
• 1-15oz can chickpeas, drained
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil and saute the onion, peppers, and garlic in a large pot over medium-high until the onions are cooked through.

Stir in the brown sugar, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, ginger, and saffron, stirring for 60 seconds.

Add the sweet potatoes, stock, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Turn to high to bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are cooked.

Yields 4 servings.

 Comments:
Taste:      

I wanted to really be able to taste the saffron in this dish, both because I had never tasted it and because I would have felt silly drowning out a costly ingredient. The saffron definitely came through, so the taste rating is mostly a reflection of my taste for saffron. It certainly has a distinct flavor--one that's earthly and floral and that does not compare to most other tastes. The flavor grew on me over time, though I think the recipe could use a bit less so the saffron flavor is the star player but not the flavor ball-hog.

Accessibility:        

Most people do not have saffron around, and it is rather expensive ($15 a teaspoon or so). That being said, it is available in most grocery stores, so you wouldn't need to go out of your way. The rest of the ingredients are pretty typical, and if you don't have or want to buy saffron, I think the dish with the other ingredients would be pretty good as well

 Ease of Preparation:   

Though the preparation does not include any fancy cooking techniques, there is quite a bit of chopping involved. We doubled the recipe, and the total onion/pepper/sweet potato chopping probably took 45 people-minutes.     

Non-vegan friendliness:  

This dish fits into the typical vegan-style one-pot meal. I do not think it's really missing meat, and the sweet potatoes and chickpeas provide a variety of textures. However, it is lacking a bit of substance, and even after a full bowl I found myself raiding the fridge for a bite or two to satisfy my hunger.

Guest blog complete!

Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

Tonight Rachel and I made African-inspired Sweet Potato Peanut Soup:

So much carotene!!  This spiced soup is chock full of vegetables and is really a meal in itself.  It was pretty easy to make, although we had a couple mishaps--I'll help you avoid those with a couple tips in the recipe: 

Recipe:
Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1.5 pounds sweet potatoes, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 5 cups water
• 3 teaspoons pepper
• 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• peanuts, chopped, for garnish
• cilantro, chopped, for garnish

First, chop all of the vegetables so they're ready to go.  (It's generally a good practice when cooking to have everything ready to go before starting.)  Once everything is ready, heat oil and garlic in a soup pot over medium-high heat and add the onions once it's hot.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and tender.  Add the curry powder and cayenne and cook for another minute or two.  Next, add the sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and water to the pot.  The water should more than cover the vegetables.  Bring to a boil and boil for about 20 minutes.  You know the soup is ready when the vegetables are tender and easily poked with a fork. 

Once the soup is cooked, blend the soup, pepper, and peanut butter together in a food processor.  Here's where I struggled!  Make sure you don't over-fill the food processor.  You'll probably need to blend the soup in batches, so make sure you divide the pepper and peanut butter between the batches.  The soup leaked/exploded out of the food processor when I blended it, causing the clean-up process to take much longer than necessary.  Once the soup is thoroughly blended together, garnish with chopped cilantro and crushed peanuts and enjoy! 

Comments:
This soup had an excellent flavor.  That said, Rachel and I both agree that the texture of the soup wasn't perfect this first time around.  The blending fiasco led me to under-blend the soup, meaning it was a little too chunky rather than more puréed.  I also think there was too much broth in the soup (I adjusted the recipe above to make up for that).  All in all, I liked the soup: it was a substantial and nutritious meal with a great spiced, nutty flavor.  Hopefully I'll learn from my mistakes this time around and it will be even better next time.    

Now it's time to eat some of those Christmas cookies...