Ghanaian Red Bean & Sweet Potato Groundnut Stew

This is a dish popular in principle throughout West Africa. We say “in principle” because that’s a big place, and there is a lot of regional variation. The archetypal peanut stew is from Senegal (as maafe) or Mali (as tigadèguèna), but for its more balanced nutritional profile we’ve chosen one from Ghana—and since there are regional variations within Ghana too, we should specify that this one is from the south.

If you are allergic to nuts, you can substitute a seed butter (or tahini) for the nut butter, and omit the nuts—this will work in culinary terms and be fine healthwise, but we can’t claim it would be the same dish, having lost its defining ingredient. If your allergy is solely to peanuts, then substituting with any oily nut would work. So, not almonds for example, but cashews or even walnuts would be fine.

You will need

• 1½ lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½” cubes
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• 2 cans kidney beans, drained, cooked, and rinsed (or 2 cups same; cooked, drained, and rinsed)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• ½ cup unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• ¼ bulb garlic, finely chopped
• 2 heaped tbsp unsalted peanut butter, minimal (ideally: no) additives
• 2 tsp white miso paste
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
• ½ tsp coarsely ground nigella seeds
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Heat some oil in a sauté pan, or other pan suitable for both frying and fitting the entire stew in. Fry the onions until softened, turn the heat down low, and add the garlic, ginger, red bell pepper, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, and MSG/salt.

2) Add ¼ cup of the vegetable stock, and the sweet potato, and turn the heat back up, on high for about 30 seconds to get it to temperature, and then take it down to a simmer.

3) Stir in the miso paste and chopped tomatoes.

4) Add most of the rest of the vegetable stock, keeping ¼ cup aside. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

5) Stir in the kidney beans, and simmer for about 30 minutes more—the sweet potato should be soft now; if it isn’t, let it simmer a while longer until it is.

6) Combine the peanut butter with the remaining ¼ cup vegetable stock, and blend until smooth. Stir it into the stew.

7) If the stew is looking more like a soup than a stew, take out 1 cup and blend this 1 cup to a purée, adding it back in.

8) Add half the peanuts unto the stew. Taste, and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

9) Crush the remaining peanuts using a pestle and mortar; not too much though; you want them broken into bits, not pulverised.

10) Garnish with the crushed nuts and nigella seeds, and serve.

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

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Take care!