African Chicken Peanut Stew

I had this recipe in my recipe queue (along with the 100 others I'll never end up making) and decided to finally commit to making it. There are a few versions on the internets, and I chose the easier of the two to start with.

• 2-3 pounds chicken legs, thighs and/or wings
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I just use olive oil)
• 1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
• A 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 6-8 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
• 2-3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 quart chicken stock (I just made broth from Bullion cubes)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

This recipe is definitely out of my comfort zone, and that's what drew me to it.  I didn't have sweet potatoes (I can't bring myself to like them), and used red instead. The recipe turned out AMAZING. Normally, I hate the word amazing because I feel it's overused. But this stuff truly was. Spectacular. One of the best things I've ever made. it went a little something like this.

Ginger is beautiful..on the inside.

I used white onion in this, but you could use yellow, and it'd work just as good. I dare say even red onion would be the best, and I will use it next time.

I also chopped up a whole bunch of garlic, and let it out to play with some ginger.

Ah. Potatoes.

I use bone in, skinless chicken thighs for this. The recipe calls for browning the chicken first. I'm not sure this is a necessary step, because it's going to get shredded up inside the stew. But I did it anyways, because cooking things and hearing them sizzle pleases me. I did not include a picture of this, because really...it's chicken cooking in a skillet. That's it. But just so you know...that's what I did! I also made chicken broth from bullion cubes during the browning process.

After removing the chicken, I did this thing. I saved half of my garlic/ginger combination for later, because I've learned that adding spices (especially salt) towards the end is more effective in producing flavor.

I'm convinced there are few things more fulfilling than a saute of onions and garlic. Ginger, salt and pepper went in there too.

I sweated them out a bit, then added potatoes for a few minutes to get them all nice and coated. Is this a potatoes idea of...fragrance? Eau De Aromatics? Ignore me.

After that, the stewing process begins. I added in the chicken broth, tomatoes, the chicken thighs (whole), peanut butter, coriander, and some cayenne. The recipe calls for roasted peanuts, but instead I cheated and just used extra crunchy peanut butter.

 Let's just say that the overall look of it at first was...not cute! I took a pic anyways, but I let it all mix together and cook down a few minutes before I took this one and decided to post it instead. Trust me, it was the right thing to do.

Simmer that stuff, and walk away. I go back and stir every 10 min or so, and don't even begin to taste test it until around the 30-45 minute mark. Every time I taste a soup/slow cook type-thing before that point, I mess it up by adding too many things. Soups/sauces/chili/stews take tiiiime. Slow your roll, baby.

After tasting it around the 45 min mark, I added some more black pepper and coriander. Then let it bubble awhile longer, before removing the chicken to shred it.

Here's the chicken, all ready for shredding!

Throw the shredded chicken back into the pot, only after eating some of it beforehand.

I then added: more salt, more cayenne and a dash more coriander. I just let it simmer maybe 10 more minutes to get all the flavors together, then I do this.

So maybe there's a cherry kool-aid ring stain on my island. SO WHAT.

It turned out thicker than I thought, so I added some jasmine rice. Good move, if I can say so myself. (But I forgot the cilantro.)

Overall: It turned out awesome. It has sweetness, so distinct you'd think there was coconut milk in it. The peanuts were not as abundant as I'd hoped, but they do pop a bit under your teeth. The coriander adds brightness to mellow some of that creamy sweet peanut butter, and the black and cayenne pepper give a healthy backbone of heat. The only drawback was that it could have been better with sweet potatoes (did I just SAY that?), or even russets, since red potatoes get creamy if they cook for a significant amount of time. It definitely had awesome ethnic flavor to it, and I think I could make people happy with this dish.

Regardless. Success!