Mafé (Peanut Stew)--Cook-Off 28

[Mar Calpena]

I found a photograph of Mafe, taken during my trip.

If this works, Mafe is the stew on the right...

Taken in Kedougu, Senegal, August 23, 2005.

Edited December 14, 2006 by Mar Calpena (log)

[Chris Amirault]

I think that I'll be making mafé Sunday for dinner. I'm planning to serve it with plain white rice, but I'm also wondering about sides. Does anyone have any ideas? I'd be particularly interested to know about any pickles or other acidic elements I can add.

[Adam Balic]

I missed this until now, it looks really great. A Zimbabwean friend tells me that they have a very similar dish for special occasions called "Dovi". In fact it is near identical (sometimes okra is added), but the spice level is lower. It would be served with Sadza (cornmeal mush/polenta) and greens like pumpkin leaves. I will give it a go over then next few days.

[Chris Amirault]

I think that I'll be making mafé Sunday for dinner.

←

And that I did:

I started by frying a ginger, onion, garlic paste as a base, added the spices, stock, and peanut butter, and letting that cook for a while. The vegetables were onions, green beans, butternut squash, sweet potato, and kale. I kept it pretty tame because it was for chile-fearing guests, but as I'm defrosting the leftovers now for lunch this week, I think I'll be spicing it up quite a bit.

[Chris Hennes]

I've never had, or even heard of, Mafé, until I saw this cook-off. But peanuts are now in season so I bought a big bag of them raw this weekend, along with some turnips, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I roughly followed the guidelines in previous posts, mostly just making it up as I went.

I started by sauteeing a standard mirepoix until softened, then added a tablespoon or so of a commercial garam masala blend and got that cooking in the oil for a few minutes to toast the spices. Then I added pureed tomatoes and homemade chicken stock (one 14oz can of tomatoes and three cups of stock). I shelled and roasted a cup of peanuts and pureed them into peanut butter, then added in some of the heated mixture from the pot to loosen it up and make it blend easier. I added this into the pot along with a turnip, and ten minutes later a sweet potato, both cut into 1/2 in. dice. After another ten minutes I added a big handful of green beans, chopped to around 1 in (probably around 2 cups once chopped). Some salt and cayenne to taste, and simmered for another hour or so. This was the result:

It was quite tasty, and had a very nice texture from the peanut butter (one cup of peanuts is quite a bit, and has some thickening power). Next time I will wait a little longer before adding the sweet potato, which was overcooked to my taste, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I don't each much food from this corner of the world, and it's always fun to experiment with new things.

I should note that I had originally intended to toss in some roasted chicken I had in the fridge, but in the end I didn't think it needed it. The root vegetables and beans give it plenty of body, and it really didn't feel like it lacked for a protein.

[far_gone]

Very exciting to see a mafe post, as it is one of my favourite dishes from my days in an african non profit in paris selling senegalese plats cuisines! Yassa - lemon and onion usually with chicken - is also really yummy! Must do a beef mafe this weekend!

[Chris Hennes]

I've made mafé a dozen or so times since I posted above: never the same twice, of course. Tonight I added a lot more peanut butter than usual, and also included whole roasted peanuts. This is also the first time I've added spinach.

[Tri2Cook]

I like the addition of the spinach Chris, I'm going to have to try that. I prefer this dish really spicy. Just shy of face-melting. Probably not particularly authentic but it makes me happy so that's how I do it.

[Darienne]

Talk about coincidences...we are having what I know as African Chicken Peanut Stew for supper tonight. Just discovered the recipe this past fall...no idea why...and made it while in Moab. Twice. Used chicken thighs. Ate it and ate it and added more stuff (onions, tomatoes) to it and ate it. The endless pot. Made it again as soon as we arrived home. Good stuff. (Can't find the photo.) Mafe. Now I know.

(Left out the cilantro. We have to try it again. So far neither of us likes it much. )

Edited February 18, 2012 by Darienne (log)

[Anna N]

This stew has been on my radar for some time and today I took the plunge:

Served with some warm home-made naan bread. Definitely worth repeating.

[BeeZee]

Talk about coincidences...we are having what I know as African Chicken Peanut Stew for supper tonight. Just discovered the recipe this past fall...no idea why...and made it while in Moab. Twice. Used chicken thighs. Ate it and ate it and added more stuff (onions, tomatoes) to it and ate it. The endless pot. Made it again as soon as we arrived home. Good stuff. (Can't find the photo.) Mafe. Now I know.

(Left out the cilantro. We have to try it again. So far neither of us likes it much. )

I made this recipe last night and it was a big hit with hubby, stepson and his new wife. Thanks for pointing me to this recipe, it's really easy. We all had 2 bowls (hubby had 3, he's a pig ). Still have 2 more generous servings left over. I made the "base" with chicken wings because I had some leftover cooked turkey, so I didn't need much more meat. I bought a bunch of cilantro, but forgot about it, so now I have to find an alternate use for it.

[GregR]

My first post here- it's a great big thank you to Chris for starting this thread and to everyone else that contributed. I sifted thru all the recipes and put together a version that suited my tastes and it was GREAT!

One thing I love about this recipe is how healthy it is- only two teaspoons of oil, some very lean meat and all those tasty vegetables. Can't thank you all enough.

[Darienne]

Thanks for resurrecting the Mafé thread. We eat it quite regularly and love it.

Two weekends ago we had guests and for a couple of days we ate rather richly...too much of a good thing perhaps. Then the last night I served Mafé...and out of the freezer too. I couldn't believe how delicious it tasted after two days of too much. Felt as if I had come home.

Welcome to eG GregR. Make yourself to home here.

Meant to add that my basic recipe came from Simply Recipes, by Hank Snow although I still have no memory of how or why I came across it.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Darienne (log)

[GregR]

Thanks for the welcome Darienne.

Funny- I meant to save some for the freezer but it didn't get that far.

[Smithy]

I don't know how I missed this topic all these years, but I'm delighted to see it! I have a version of African Peanut Soup from someone, somewhere - and occasionally trot it out. I hadn't heard of mafe before this rainy morning, nor seen how many easy variations there are. Thanks, Chris and Chris and participants! And welcome, GregR!