West African Peanut Soup

image_4 by you.


I was craving soup so I perused my recipe collection and found this, which I used to make quite a bit. I have no idea why I put it aside.

I love this soup! It's so easy, healthy and tasty. Precisely why I'm planning on taking it to a cook-off at work! I used the homemade vegetable stock previously posted here.

The modifications I made are as follows:

I added the sweet potatoes with the carrots. That was an accident as they're the same color and I grabbed the wrong bowl. No harm done.

I used an immersion blender to puree the veggies with the tomato juice because I have a nice immersion blender precisely for this task. Saves pouring hot liquid and potential splatter too.

I added very little sugar. I think it can actually be skipped altogether.

I like thick soup so I didn't add any additional liquid.


WEST
AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP
(from "Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant")

2 cups chopped onion
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cayenne or other ground chiles
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp sugar
chopped scallions
chopped roasted peanuts

Sauté onion in oil until it is translucent.
Stir in cayenne and ginger. Add carrots and
sauté a couple minutes more. Mix in potatoes
and stock, bring to a boil, simmer 15 minutes
(until the vegetables are tender). Puree the
vegetables with tomato juice (and some of the
cooking liquid if necessary) in a blender or
food processor. Return the puree to the pot.
Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Check
sweetness and add sugar if necessary. Reheat
gently, using a heat diffuser if necessary to
prevent scorching. Add more water, stock, or
tomato juice to make a thinner soup if
desired. Serve topped with plenty of chopped
scallions and chopped roasted peanuts.

Serves 6-8

3 comments:

Heather said...

I as going to make a dish like this to celebrate Black History Month, but I would add chicken. I can't think of an y vegetarian African countries! But that still looks gorgeous, delicious, and healthy (I ain't mad at it).

RecipeGirl said...

Hi Kristi,
This looks rather yummy. I'm a sucker for peanutty things. I sooooo want an immersion blender too! That's got to be my next gadget purchase :)

Anonymous said...

i peanuts *and* soup. this looks great. and african cookery is not something i know much about.

plus, i get to use the stick blender! i love the stick blender, even though it freaks my dogs out.