African Chicken Stew with Peanut Sauce

As far as I can tell, this stew is "African" because it contains peanuts and exotic spices... like cumin. Perhaps it's as African as calling something "American" because it contains cheese and ground beef. Nonetheless, this slow cooker stew is very delicious. (And it also uses up chickpeas!)


The stew originated because I made the "African Peanut Sauce" on page 299 of Terry Blonder Golson's cookbook 1,000 Lowfat Recipes. To make the sauce, start with onions & garlic sautéed in oil, then throw in a bit of curry powder and ground coriander, then stir in a large can of crushed tomatoes, some peanut butter and some chopped roasted peanuts. Cook together and you're done.

But I made a mistake. Instead of crushed tomatoes, I added a can of puréed tomatoes. Horrors! The result was VERRY tomato-y. I could tell the tomato taste would overpower and wreck whatever slow cooked stew I wanted to make. I did not freak out! Instead I divided the sauce into 3 portions and froze two of them. Then I made my stew--here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3-4 carrots, cut into chunks
• 1/2 can (15 oz. can) of chickpeas
• small onion, chopped
• oil for frying (such as canola or olive)
  
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6-8 chicken thighs cut into chunks (or 2-3 breasts in a pinch)
• dashes of ground cumin, ground ginger, and cinnamon
• 1/3 recipe of peanut sauce described above
• 1 T peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (or water is fine)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt

Assembly

1. Put carrots and chickpeas in the slow cooker.
2. Fry onion in oil until aromatic, then add garlic.
   
3. Add chicken thighs and stir them around until they are cooked on the outside. Add spices and stir together.
4. Add sauce, peanut butter, and broth. Cook together briefly, stirring until peanut butter has been incorporated. Pour into slow cooker.
5. Cook on High all day (about 8 hours). I like to stir it halfway through if I'm home.
6. About 1/2 hour before serving, add the lemon juice. Salt to taste.

We have this with whole wheat couscous and greens. Serves 4.