West African Chicken Stew

This West African Chicken Stew has such a wonderful, unusual flavor profile.   If you’re looking for a typical stew, this probably isn’t the recipe you’re looking for.  But if you want something out of the ordinary and quite tasty, give this recipe a try, especially if you like peanut sauce!  It’s different.  It’s DELICIOUS.  I LOVE IT!

I came across a recipe in the Foods of the World – African Cooking cookbook by Time Life books (with a copyright of 1970 – I guess I can call that a vintage cookbook). My mom had the whole series of cookbooks, each one from a different country or region which I happily brought back home with me and hope to try out some recipes from.  This recipe was titled “Chicken-Groundnut Stew” and was more complicated that what I made here.  It had some ingredients I didn’t have like dried ground shrimp and crumbled dried fish so I adjusted the recipe to what worked easily enough for me.  The original recipe also listed all sorts of garnishes, like spiced okra, fried plantains, pineapple, papaya, etc.  Again, didn’t have any of that around so I just garnished mine with sliced green onions and chopped cilantro.

You can eat this West African Chicken Stew by itself in a bowl or if you want to make sure to sop up all the saucy goodness put it over rice or Cauliflower “rice” for a lower carb version.

West African Chicken Stew

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Ingredients

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• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 Tbls. Salt
• 1 Tbls. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1–2 Tbls. peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 lg. onion, diced
• 4 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbls. minced, fresh ginger (or minced ginger paste)
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 C. chunky peanut butter
• 1 C. chicken broth
• 1 Tbls. tomato paste (gives it a nicer color)
• 2 green onions, sliced
• handful of chopped cilantro

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Instructions

1. Cut chicken breasts into bite sized chunks* Season with salt, pepper and dried ginger.
2. In large pan with high sides or dutch oven, heat oil. Brown chicken pieces, then remove from skillet and set aside.
3. In same pan, sauté onions, jalapeño, garlic and ginger over medium heat, being careful not to burn the garlic, about 2-3 minutes, until onions begin to soften. Add diced tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Saute a couple more minutes. Then add the peanut butter, chicken stock and tomato paste. Stir well to combine. Return the reserved chicken back to the pan, stir and simmer about 15 minutes.
4. Sprinkle each serving with green onions and cilantro.
5. *May use any of your favorite chicken pieces, if desired.