African Peanut Stew

From the WSJ 5/2020  Adapted from Rachel Ama's Vegan Eats (Ebury Press)

This was very tasty and much thicker than a traditional stew.  Everyone liked it! And that was with forgetting to add all the toppings.


6 servings.

For the spice paste:
2 yellow onions, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tsp chile powder
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 fresh red  Scotch bonnet chile (optional - not used)
Pinch of salt

For the stew: 
2 Tbsp oil, preferably peanut
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1  14 ounce can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1  14 ounce can of diced tomatoes
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces spinach, chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely sliced.

Directions:
1) Make the spice paste:  combine all ingredients in a food processor and blitz into a coarse paste (don't be alarmed that this doesn't taste good).

2) Heat peanut oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium low heat.  Add spice paste and sauce stirring occasionally and adding a little more oil if it sticks to the pan, until lightly browned and fragrant, 10 minutes

3) Add sweet potatoes, black-eyed peas and tomato paste to saucepan, and mix to combine.  Stir in canned tomatoes, vegetable stock and peanut butter.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover pan with a lid and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until sweet potatoes are tender, 25 minutes.

4) Remove pan from heat and stern spinach, leaving it to wilt in pan, 5 minutes.  To finish, add lemon juice, taste and adjust seasoning.  Sprinkle cilantro, scallions and sliced smiles over the top and serve.