torley manor

African Peanut Soup

In a large sauce pan, heat up:

• a dribble of olive oil
• a good-sized yellow onion, chopped
• two cloves of garlic, chopped
• a knuckle of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• pinch of cinnamon
• bigger pinch of cumin
• smaller pinch of cayenne – or a squirt of sriracha sauce, or a small spoon of chili garlic sauce

More photos and the rest of the recipe below!

To peel ginger, just use a very sharp paring knife and cut carefully.

Micro-planes are really awesome for ginger. No hairs!

Action shots! This is how I “measure” cumin and chili sauce.

After a few minutes when all of those things are soft and smell good, add:

• 2 large or 3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled, and chopped into about half-inch cubes
• one can of kidney beans, if you feel like it. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.
• enough vegetable broth to cover everything – 2 or 3 cups. Some folks like to use half broth and have tomato juice or even a can of crushed tomatoes. Whatever. This is a flexible recipe.

It’s far easier to peel sweet potatoes when they’re raw.

Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer for about a half hour.
Take about 1/3 c of the broth out of the pan and mix with it:

• about 1/3 c of peanut butter
• 1-2 t sugar (if you’re using unsweetened peanut butter. If you’re using sweetened, don’t add sugar.)

Add that back into the soup. At this point, depending on how you like your soups, you can a) puree the whole shebang for a smooth and sultry soup, b) not puree anything and have a slightly creamy broth with chunks of vegetable in it, or c) mash half-heartedly with a potato masher so that you’ve got a thicker soup that still has sweet potato chunks in it.

Protect yourself if you’re using a food processor with HOT soup. It can burn the fuck out of your skin if you’re not careful.

Serve each bowl with a sprinkling of crushed unsalted peanuts on top.

We had intended to make biscuits to have with this, but Q made a loaf of bread yesterday and we just had that instead. Biscuits tomorrow!

Gorgeous. Homemade bread, purple kale, and soup!