Friday, January 20, 2012

Pantry-friendly North African Peanut Stew

This is a nice stew for a cold evening and full of protein. Most recipes call for broth rather than the water and tomato soup I suggest, and typically use diced sweet potato instead of the mix. This version is silky in texture without requiring the blender that some recipes call for, and is my new favorite variation on the overall theme.

Ingredients:

  • 1.25 lb ground turkey breast
  • 3 big scoops of peanut butter or to taste -- creamy or chunky works fine, but creamy does go nicely with the generally smooth base
  • 1 can of tomato soup
  • candied ginger
  • sliced onion
  • olive oil
  • North African spice blend (cumin, oregano, garlic if you don't have it)
  • hot pepper (I used mozambique peri peri but cayenne works just as nicely)
  • powdered mashed sweet potato mix (the stuff I bought was sweet potato/potato flakes from BC, on deep discount post-T-Day)
Prep:
  1. In a nice-sized dutch oven, brown your turkey, breaking it into bits as it cooks, and sautee your onion in some olive oil.
  2. Add the soup, four cans of water, and sweet potato flakes.
  3. Depending on your preferences, add as much or as little ginger, spice blend, and hot pepper as you like. The pepper and ginger add nice depth to the flavor and help cut through the peanutty taste (which can be a little cloying if you went crazy with your scoops), but won't actually make the stew hot unless you really work at it.
  4. Simmer for 20 minutes or however long it takes for people to be ready to eat dinner, adding more water if it starts to stick. Great the second day, if you have any left.

Meal Plan for 1/20/2012 - 1/28/2012

  • mac and cheese
  • tomato soup and grilled cheese
  • chicken tacos w/peppers and onions
  • Prep: soak more beans
  • Prep: rest of peppers
  • Roasted Turkey
  • Sweet potato casserole
  • Freeze:cook then freeze beans
  • Pot roast
  • Chili made from leftover pot roast
  • Lamb curry in crockpot
  • Pork chops
  • Steak
  • Leftovers