HOW TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER STEW FOR THE THIRD TIME
1. Try making peanut butter stew, based largely on guessing what might be in it.
2. Try again, but this time with chicken.
3. Your family comes! Zoom around MaxMart with Ruth, but be sure to pick up some chicken while you're there. If they ask if you want it cut up, you do. Unless you have one of these at home. Awww yeeeah.
4. Reflect upon how rubbery the chicken skin got last time you made it.
5. Granted, that chicken had probably sat out in the heat for a few hours. The MaxMart chicken is air-cooled for sale to obruni.
6. Get down to business, if only so you won't feel like you're eating out so much when your Mom is here, or that you'll go from being charming regulars to "really, you again?" at the Nigerian place.
7. Crap. Out of fuel. Call Mr. Larteh.
8. Cover your cookie sheet with super-thin Ghanaian tinfoil. It's like rice paper made of metal. How do they get it so thin?
9. Pre-heat the oven. Not to any particular temperature, just "pretty hot."
10. Spread the chicken out on the cookie sheet and dab some butter on top. Put in oven.
11. Bake the chicken until it seems almost done, about 45 minutes or so. Leave a couple of pieces in there for Ruth to eat plain, since she's not going to eat the peanut butter stew.
12. Meanwhile, put some palm oil in a skillet. Heat it up until it stops looking like glop and starts smelling kind of good.
13. Slice up a largeish red onion. If it's not red, enh. Put in the oil.
14. Chop up some garlic, throw it in.
15. Peel a hunk of ginger, and chop it up. If you're using Ghanaian ginger, it's not that strong, so put in more than you think you'll need.
16. Sprinkle the whole mess with some salt, but not too too much.
17. Oh, wait! Ruth will never eat this anyway. Slit a hot pepper or two and throw it in.
18. Saute for a while. You've got time, while the chicken bakes (this will massively improve the skin - I don't know if it's what Ghanaians do, but it seemed to work). When the onions are translucent and soft, you're probably in business. Don't wait for them to caramelize; they probably won't, in palm oil.
19. Add a whole mess of tomatoes, chopped up. If you don't live near Night Market, it's probably fine to use canned diced tomatoes. How many? A whole mess. If you've added almost all your tomatoes, come on, throw in those last two. What are you going to do with two tomatoes?
20. Cook until the tomatoes start to break down, probably until it's time to take the chicken out of the oven.
21. Put the chicken in a large pot, and then mix in the veggies. Add water until the melange is just about covered - Ghanaian peanut butter stew/groundnut soup is not very thick. You want it to be just north of watery, not watery, but not peanut buttery.
22. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to the most gentle simmer you can get away with. Stir in some mix'py (if you are a yank, maybe try Goya Sazon, or a boullion cube?).
23. Add some more palm oil to your skillet. When it's hot, dump in some peanut butter - all-natural stuff, I can't say what will happen if you try this with Jif or some crap. You want enough to thicken your stew a bit, but again, not to overwhelm. I start with 2/3c and eyeball it from there, but I like peanut butter. Fry the peanut butter in the oil for a bit. I don't know if this accomplishes anything, but my Ghanaian grad student suggested that I do it, so hey, can't hurt.
24. Add the peanut butter to the stew. Throw in some honey. If you don't have Ghanaian honey, try molasses. This is probably optional, but I thought it added a nice flavor dimension.
25. Simmer. Don't rush this! Keep the heat pretty low, and simmer until the meat is starting to pull away from the bones. Take the time to make some rice and nurse a Star.
26. Are you drinking a Club? Get out of my kitchen.
27. Serve the whole thing over rice. Enjoy that your family likes it (well, Ruth will eat the reserved chicken and some plain rice). Hope that Melissa makes it at home and thinks of you.
I love your recipes. More recipes should call for measurements of "a whole mess."
ReplyDeleteYour peanut butter stew was delicious - a taste sensation! I was pleased that you went to such efforts for Dad and me to savor authentic Ghanaian food.
ReplyDeleteYour peanut butter stew was delicious - a taste sensation. I was pleased that you went to such efforts for Dad and me to savor authentic Ghanaian food.
ReplyDelete