Potato, Beef and Peanut Pot Recipe

I love African food and I collect African recipes almost obsessively (hence my collection of almost 3000!). But sometimes I am on the look out for dishes or recipes that will introduce people to the basic flavours of African cookery without the sensory (and chilli) overload that some dishes bring with them.

That was the inception point for this recipe. I wanted to make an African-style 'peanut soup' (actually a stew served with a kind of porridge or mash) without going overboard on the hot and bitter flavours.

I ended up adapting a modern version of Irish stew with the inclusion of peanuts and peanut butter to give the African flavours.

The result is this recipe, which I include in my African Fusion cookery.

Potato, Beef and Peanut Pot Recipe

Serves: 4

This is a modern African Fusion recipe, essentially it's the marriage of a classic Irish beef and potato stew with the African practice of adding peanut butter to thicken the sauce in a stew. I've also added some hot chillies to the recipe (because I love them) but these are entirely optional.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
60g (2 oz) butter
500g (1 lb) beef steak, cut into thin strips
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large, waxy, potatoes, cubed
1/2 tsp paprika
6 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
600ml (2 1/2 cups beef stock)
25g (1 oz) unsalted peanuts
2 tsp light soy sauce
50g (1 3/4 oz) sugar snap peas
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 birds eye chillies, chopped (optional)
parsley sprigs, to garnish

Method:

Heat the oil and butter in a flam-proof casserole. Add the beef strips and fry gently for between 3 and 4 minutes, stirring the meat until evenly browned all over. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Now add the potato cubes and cook for about 4 minutes or until the cubes just begin to brown. Scatter over the paprika and stir to combine then stir in the peanut butter before gradually blending in the beef stock.

Bring the mixture to a boil then add the peanuts, soy sauce, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper and chillies (if using). Bring back to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes, or until the beef is tender and cooked through.

Turn into a warmed serving dish (or serve straight from the casserole). Garnish with parsley sprigs, if desired.

This is excellent served with plain boiled rice.

For hundreds more African Fusion style recipes, why not visit the Celtnet African fusion recipes and cookery page.