Monday, February 1, 2010

African Peanut Stew

When I was on my trip last week with my new girlfriends, I did some of the cooking. They all had recipe requests and asked if I would post more recipes on my blog and maybe a little less quilting. So, here is the soup that I served our first night together. I forgot the recipe, so I adlibbed, but it seemed to work out fine anyway. I made this soup and a salad and some yummy chocolate gluten free cupcakes. My friend RaeAnn struggles with some gluten sensitivity, so I tried to make food that she could enjoy with the rest of us. Tomorrow I am going to my Girl Gang meeting and I'll take a big pot of this soup for them to taste test too.

This photo shows most of the ingredients. It's a very easy recipe and takes only about 10 minutes prep time and 20 minutes to cook. I got this recipe from a friend, who got it from "The Biggest Loser's Plan to Win" by Cheryl Forberg.

African Peanut Stew
* 1 T. olive oil
* 1 medium red onion, chopped
* 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 c. chopped carrot (I use about 1 cup)
* 1/2 c. chopped celery (I use about 3/4 c.)
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 t. minced, peeled fresh ginger
* 1 T. curry powder (I use a heaping T. of yellow curry paste instead)
* 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
* 1 bay leaf
* 4 cups vegetable broth (I use double the broth)
* 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1/2" pieces
* 1 1/2 c. shelled edamame
* 1/4 c. creamy or crunchy natural peanut butter or almond butter (I only use almond butter)
* 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 (5 oz.) bag baby spinach leaves, torn into bite size pieces
* 1/2 t. salt
* coarsely ground black pepper

Method: Heat olive oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, carrot and celery; saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute; do not brown garlic. Add tomatoes and bay leaf; cook, uncovered, until tomatoes are slightly reduced about 3 minutes. Add broth and sweet potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 8 minutes. Stir in edamame and almond butter until combined. Cook until thoroughly heated, about 2 minutes. Stir in cilantro and spinach until it wilts. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 8 (I cook the soup until it gets thick and creamy like a stew. Takes slightly longer than the recipe.)

3 comments:

  1. Thank you sweet friend for sharing with us the recipe for that YUMMY soup that you made for us at the retreat. We were all pretty spoiled by you....that's for sure!
    Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ohh, post the gluten free chocolate recipe too, my granddaughter is one year old and struggling with this problem..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Judi, my very favorite homemade soup recipe is for African Quinoa soup. Is sounds similar to this -- peanut butter, sweet potato, other veggies, but different spices. I will have to send it to you cause you would love it! My entire family loves it.

    ReplyDelete