Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

Maine-iac's Note:

This is a wonderful, flavorful stew for a cold winter evening. This can be made either vegetarian-style or with meat. Excellent!!!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• ¼ cup peanut oil
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 1 red peppers or 1 green pepper , chopped
• 4 -5 cloves garlic , chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 large sweet potatoes , peeled & cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• salt & pepper
• 1 teaspoon peanut oil (optional)
• 1 lb ground beef or 1 lb ground turkey (optional)
• 2 small zucchini , trimmed and sliced
• ½ cup smooth peanut butter
• hot cooked rice or couscous (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat ¼ cup peanut oil over medium heat in 5 qt pan.
2. Add red pepper flakes, onion, pepper, and garlic.
3. Cook until vegetables are tender.
4. Add ginger, chili powder, and cumin, cook for 1 minute.
5. Add sweet potatoes, tomato paste, salt& pepper.
6. Add enough water to barely cover vegetables and mix well.
7. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. In a separate pan, heat remaining peanut oil over medium heat.
9. Add ground beef or turkey, sautee until brown.
10. Drain, and transfer to plate until stew is done, then mix in with stew.
11. Add zucchini to stew and cook for another 15 minutes.
12. Place peanut butter in a small bowl, stir in 1 cup of the stewing mixture until smooth.
13. Add peanut butter mixture to the stew.
14. Mix well and cook stew another 15 minutes.
15. Re-season to taste.
16. Serve with hot cooked rice or couscous.

Reviews

[lolablitz]

By far one of the best soups I've ever made! I had to make some adjustments because I didn't have all the ingredients on hand and was looking for a way to use my sweet potatoes. So I didn't have peanut oil and so I just threw the red pepper and onion in with the ground beef and browned them together (adding the garlic at the end). Then I added the spices and potatoes and I didn't have the tomato paste, so I added drained diced tomatoes with the water. I also added a little Better than Boullion and about 1 1/2 tsp of salt. I skipped the zucchini and wouldn't add it next time either. This was so good and I'm so glad I found it, thanks Maine-iac!

[MacChef]

I have to admit that I did not follow this recipe to a tee. I used it as inspiration. I had already started stewing beef when I realized that I had sweet potatoes I wanted to use. This recipe screamed TRY ME! I am glad I did. Even with the changes that I made, the spices gave the stew a wonderful flavor. I just ate some of the leftovers for lunch. Even better than last night. Thanks for the inspiration!