african sweet potato stew

[cedarblue]

serves4-6

1 inion
4 tbs oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp grated fresh root ginger
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
12oz sweet potatoes
1 tbs curry paste
1/2pt passata
1/2pt veg stock
8oz spinach leaves
8oz mushrooms
4tbs peanut butter
2tbs chopped fresh coriander

1. peel and chop onion and gently fry it in the oil with garlic, ginger and cayenne for 10mins.

2. peel sweet pots, cut into cubes. add the curry paste to the onion mixture and cook stirring for 1 min. add potatoes, stir to coat and fry for 3-4mins. add passata and stock, bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 mins till potatoes are almost tender.

3. roughly tear up spinach. heat a little more oil in another pan and stir fry the mushrooms till they start to release their juices. add to the potato mix with the spinach and cook for 5 more mins or till veg is cooked through.

4. mix a few spoonfuls of the stew juices with the peanut butter to soften it slightly then stir back into the potato pan. add the coriander, season and heat through.

we eat this with naan bread and rice.

[insubordination]

*Runs to supermarket* I can envisage this becoming a one-a-week thing. Thanks for posting. Will have to look up passata.

[fiamma]

OMG!!!!!!! I made this tonight and it is SO GOOD! Possibly one of the best recipes I've ever tried, ever. Cedar you are a star!!! Thank you so much for posting it.

[PainterLady]

what is Passatta?

[rantipole]

what is Passatta?

Yeah, what she said!

[cedarblue]

you could use tomato juice but passata is sieved tomatoes. and is a bit thicker.
you can buy in in glass jars or in cartons easily in supermarkets, usually near the canned tomatoes or tomator puree etc.

[PainterLady]

wow, I've never heard of it.

[cedarblue]

you can always blitz a can of chopped tomatoes in a blender real smooth and you should get the same thing.

[Tigerlily]

wow, I've never heard of it.

I think we call it "tomato puree" in North America. The Wikipedia entry on passata makes it seem like it's the same thing.

[cedarblue]

tomato puree is a lot thicker than passata.

[cvC]

I don't know where in Africa this recipe comes form, but, as a background to it, was interested to read this a while ago:

"Sophie Sirak Kebede, who runs Tobia restaurant above London's Ethiopian community centre, says that Britons will feel at home with Ethiopian cuisine as it shares some similarities with Indian food - although there are also some significant differences.

"We are semi-kosher when it comes to our dietary system and, due to the Ethiopian Coptic church, for three-quarters of the year we are vegan. In the restaurant we offer vegan food only on Wednesdays and Fridays."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,1959503,00.html

[harpy]

"We are semi-kosher when it comes to our dietary system and, due to the Ethiopian Coptic church, for three-quarters of the year we are vegan. In the restaurant we offer vegan food only on Wednesdays and Fridays."

Hmm, interesting. Does he mean "it's only on Wednesdays and Fridays that we offer vegan food" or "on Wednesdays and Fridays we offer nothing but vegan food", I wonder?

Edited to add I've found a kind of answer here: http://www.tobiarestaurant.co.uk/home.htm

[cvC]

I wouldn't personally trust the food to be vegan on any day due to the cross-contamination issue, to be honest with you.

[harpy]

Mind you, that's true of any omnivorous restaurant really I suppose. It might be a step in the right direction if more of them had sort-of-vegan days...

[Gorilla]

i found a similar recipe to this in Animal Aid's Meat-Free Month leaflet:

http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/p.../Meat-Free.pdf

Scroll down to the recipes at the bottom for 'West African groundnut stew'. i think i'm going to make this tonight.

[cedarblue]

my recipe will be better!!

[Gorilla]

^ well i don't know about that but the Animal Aid version was really tasty, i had it with basmati rice. i halved the ingredients to make two servings but there was still way too much, it's very filling.

[DiaShel]

I can't wait to make this tomorrow! Sounds like it'd be great with naan but I can't find any vegan! I guess rice will have to do.

[DiaShel]

Think I could use curry powder instead of paste?

[mariana]

Wow, this is perfect...I'm so glad I happened to read this! I have a couple of extra sweet potatoes left over from the other night and was wondering what to do with them...now I know just what to do! It looks delicious, thanks for posting!

[cedarblue]

Think I could use curry powder instead of paste?

i'm not sure the taste or consistency would be the same (if you're referring to my recipe) but you try - no guarantees though

[Gorilla]

Think I could use curry powder instead of paste?

the one i posted doesn't need curry paste so try that one if you're worried about it, i wouldn't think it'd make too much difference though.

[mariana]

i'm not sure the taste or consistency would be the same (if you're referring to my recipe) but you try - no guarantees though

I'm planning to make it with curry powder so I'll post how it goes.

[mariana]

This was delicious!! I made a few modifications (I always seem to). I used curry powder instead of paste. I'm not sure how much--maybe 2 tablespoons? I didn't add mushrooms because I don't like them, and I added less stock and passata than it called for (I used just enough to cover the sweet potatoes). I also added extra cayenne, turmeric, paprika, and cumin (I always mess around with spices). Yum! Thanks for posting. This might just be one of my new favorite recipes.