Who: Mica Murphy, Digital Designer
What I made: Groundnut Stew, Roasted Aubergine and Tomato with Peanut Sauce from The Groundnut Cookbook
What I thought: To be entirely honest, I was slightly daunted by the fact that the cooking time for the Groundnut Stew was fairly long, however, I was pleasantly surprised with how simple it was to cook. I paired the Groundnut Stew with Roasted Aubergine and Tomato with Peanut Sauce, and Jollof Rice (a recipe I had tried out a few days before so I had done all the preparation before). I purposely chose an aubergine dish because I hate aubergines with a fiery passion and I thought if I cooked them in a different way it might change my mind. Thankfully, it did.
The aubergine dish was super simple. Essentially, pierce an aubergine, chuck it in the oven with some tomatoes, whip up a sauce, et voilà – complete. As I’ve been told humans are supposed to eat things like vegetables quite often, I think I am likely to try it again.
The stew was a bit more tricky but essentially very simple to create. I made two changes to the recipe when cooking (well three if you count my haphazard measuring of teaspoons and tablespoons). One was to use chicken breasts, not a whole chicken, as I am one of those heathens who only likes the white meat of a chicken, and the other was to use peanut butter (a suggested substitution) instead of the homemade ‘Groundnut Butter’ because I’m pretty lazy and rarely do things like create my own butters and broths.
Taste-wise, I couldn’t fault it. It was rich, buttery and spicy – what more could you ask for. The aubergines and tomatoes had a lovely consistency and the sauce was great. What was nice about the meal as a whole is that even though I ate a LOT I didn’t feel grossly overfed afterward – it was surprisingly light.
It’s not the type of thing you’re likely to try on a weeknight after a day of hard graft, but if you have a few hours free on a weekend I’d highly recommend it.
To see the Groundnut Stew recipe and make it yourself, click here! And make sure to check out their recipe for Peri-Peri Chicken and Puna Yam Cake while you’re at it.
Click here to find out more about The Groundnut Cookbook by the dynamic trio Duval Timothy, Folayemi Brown and Jacob Fodio Todd.
