Vegetable Maafé

Name: Vegetable Maafé
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 1 small red onion, chopped; 4 garlic cloves, chopped; 1 (1-inch) piece ginger, scrubbed and grated; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes; 1 red Scotch bonnet; Salt; 2 medium green plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip); 4 cups vegetable stock or water; 2 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip); 1/2 medium butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip); 1/2 cup creamy, unsalted peanut butter; 2 tablespoon tamarind purée (optional); 2 teaspoons ground dawadawa (see Tip) or 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional); 4 cups hearty greens, such as mature spinach, turnip greens, collards or kale, chopped with stems; Steamed rice, fonio or millet, for serving; 1 lime, sliced, for squeezing

By Yewande Komolafe

Updated Sept. 18, 2023

Vegetable Maafé — Chris Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 4(1,271)
Comments: Read comments

A great maafé effortlessly balances sweet, savory, earthy and spicy. Maafé is often called West African peanut stew, but that’s an oversimplification. Across the region, there are many versions that feature peanuts as a base, and all are greatly nuanced: For example, there’s akitiwa in Togo, nkatenkwan in Ghana and miyan taushe across northern Nigeria. This highly adaptable stew can be made with any assortment of meat, poultry, seafood and seasonal vegetables you have on hand (see Tip), but this one goes all in on produce. Keeping the Scotch bonnet whole in the sauce controls the heat: cook to soften, then break it open to dissolve seeds in the sauce for more heat, or cook and remove the softened whole chile from the sauce for less heat. Serve it all over steamed rice, millet or fonio, with some lime slices for squeezing. Maafé can be made ahead, refrigerated and reheated for a warm, comforting meal whenever you need — its rich flavor only improves with time.

Featured in: Maafé Is the Versatile, Warming Stew You Should Be Making This Fall

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Ingredients

Yield:6 servings

1tablespoon vegetable oil
1small red onion, chopped
4garlic cloves, chopped
1(1-inch) piece ginger, scrubbed and grated
1tablespoon tomato paste
1(14½-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1red Scotch bonnet
Salt
2medium green plantains, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip)
4cups vegetable stock or water
2medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip)
½medium butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (see Tip)
½cup creamy, unsalted peanut butter
2tablespoon tamarind purée (optional)
2teaspoons ground dawadawa (see Tip) or 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
4cups hearty greens, such as mature spinach, turnip greens, collards or kale, chopped with stems
Steamed rice, fonio or millet, for serving
1lime, sliced, for squeezing

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium, and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until soft and just beginning to brown at the edges, about 6 minutes. Add in the grated ginger and sauté until fragrant, 1 minute.
Step 2
Add the tomato paste, stirring to evenly coat the vegetables. Cook until the paste turns brick red, 1 minute. Add the whole tomatoes and their liquid, breaking up the tomatoes in the pot. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any bits that have stuck to the surface. Using a sharp knife, poke slits in the Scotch bonnet and drop it into the pot. Season the sauce with salt, and bring the sauce to a simmer.
Step 3
Add the plantains and cook until they just begin to soften, 10 minutes. Add the butternut squash, carrots and vegetable stock. Increase the heat to high and bring the stew up to a boil. Once the liquid is bubbling, reduce heat to medium. Cook until the vegetables are just fork tender, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter with ¼ cup hot liquid from the pot. Stir into a loose sauce.
Step 4
Stir the peanut butter mixture into the pot. Add the tamarind purée, ground dawadawa or fish sauce, if using. Stir in the greens. Drop the heat to low and let the sauce simmer, stirring frequently, for another 10 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to a creamy but loose consistency. Remove from heat, taste and season with more salt if necessary. Remove the Scotch bonnet chile and discard. Serve maafé over steamed rice, fonio or millet, with a couple of lime slices for squeezing.

Tips

Maafé lends itself to a variety of fall vegetables: potatoes, pumpkin, kabocha or any type of squash, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, or a mix of mushrooms. Substitute the amounts above with the same amounts of any mix of vegetables.
Dawadawa, also known as iru, is a fermented locust bean product frequently used in West African cooking to add deep, robust flavor to soups and stews. It can be found as a ground powder or whole beans in the spice aisles of any African grocer. Possible alternatives are fish sauce or fermented black beans.

Ratings

4 out of 5

1,271 user ratings

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Comments

eclecticos2 years ago

I've often made the delicious version in Sundays At Moosewood, which is listed as "West African Groundnut Stew." It's on the web and could be useful if you're looking for ingredient substitutions. For example, they use their tomatoes in a different form, and cayenne instead of Scotch bonnet. They leave out the tamarind and dawadawa but add coriander. Moosewood uses sweet potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and green peppers instead of plantains, carrots, squash, and greens.

Karen NBvW2 years ago

Wondering if "Dawadawa" could be replaced w'MISO?

eclecticos2 years ago

If you have a peanut allergy, the recipe also works well with sunflower seed butter, for example.

Mekeley Jones6 months ago

Found the tamarind lent too sour a note. Preferred the more savory flavor of the stew before it was added. Next time will add one quarter the amount, if at all.

Eirlys Colquhoun6 months ago

Absolutely delicious. Personal preference, I substituted green beans for carrots. Carrots seem to refuse to soften sufficiently for me in a stew and I couldn’t be bothered to steam them first. I would also reduce the amount of Tamarind paste (maybe 2tbsp rather than 3tbsp) and increase the amount of peanut butter - but that’s just personal taste. I used white miso paste instead of Dawadawa and that seemed to work.

Laura s.8 months ago

I added the tamarind paste, dash of fish sauce, 1 tsp turmeric, juice of 2 limes, & chopped cilantro & sriracha on top to serve. I also added 1/2 cup dried red lentils for some protein. It was delicious! Next time I might add some coconut milk and see how that tastes.

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