west african

<em>Nigerian-inspired, protein-rich vegan egusi stew. Enjoy this with rice, yams, plantains, sweet or regular potatoes. </em>

Nigerian-inspired Vegan Egusi (Melon) Seed Stew with Tofu

tin plum tomatoes

red onion,

garlic cloves

red bell pepper

red chilli

½ inch ginger

egusi (melon seeds)

pack tofu, drained and cubed

vegetable stock cubes

olive oil

chopped kale or spinach

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking paper then evenly distribute tofu on the tray and bake for 25 minutes, turning halfway through cooking until all sides are golden then set aside and keep warm.

Put the tomatoes, red onion, garlic cloves, bell pepper, ginger and chilli in a food processor and blitz to form a smooth liquid. Tip the mixture into a medium saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 25 minutes until the sauce reduces to a very thick paste.

Heat the olive oil in another saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the ground egusi and fry, stirring frequently for 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, fry for an additional two minutes then add around 200ml of water. Add the vegetable stock cube and adjust seasoning as needed with salt pepper. Allow to cook on medium heat for 3 minutes then add kale and tofu. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the kale is tender then serve over rice.

Egusi seeds—the large seeds of an African melon—are toasted and ground to thicken this popular Nirgerian stew.

Egusi Stew With Goat

onions

garlic

tomatoes,

ginger

Scotch bonnet pepper

red palm oil

egusi seeds

crayfish powder

Maggi cubes

iru powder

chicken stock

goat shoulder, cubed

Kosher salt

canola oil

pumpkin leaf

Epicurious

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, sweat the onion, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, and Scotch bonnet pepper in the palm oil until vegetables are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the egusi seeds and toast in oil for 10 minutes. Add crayfish powder, Maggi, iru, and chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, over high heat, season the goat meat with salt and sear in canola oil until browned on all sides, about 7 minutes. Add the goat meat to the egusi mixture and simmer together for about an hour, or until the meat is tender. Add the pumpkin leaves during the last 20 minutes of cooking. The sauce should be thick and most of the liquid should have simmered off.

Season to taste with salt. Swerve with fufu or pounded yam.

Peanut butter lends its nutty, creamy texture to this hearty one-pot chicken and greens dish with an irresistible sauce you’ll want to serve over plenty of rice.

Peanut-Butter-Braised Chicken and Greens

collard greens

lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3" pieces

tsp. pepper

Tbsp.

Tbsp. avocado oil oil

red onions, thinly sliced

garlic cloves, finely chopped

Scotch bonnet

tomato paste

tomatoes

peanut butter

Tbsp. chipotle chile powder

thyme

coconut milk (from two 13.5-oz. cans)

white rice and lemon wedges (for serving)

This is a West African–inspired dish featuring collard greens and seared chicken thighs that get cooked with smoky chipotle chili, peanut butter, tomato, habanero, and coconut milk. The ensuing sauce is luscious, savory, and irresistibly spicy.

Bon Appétit

Preheat oven to 375°. Remove ribs and stems from 1 large bunch collard greens and finely chop, then chop leaves. Set aside.

Sprinkle 3 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3" pieces, on both sides with 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper and 1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt. Heat 3 Tbsp. avocado oil or vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high. Working in batches if needed, cook chicken, turning occasionally, until golden but not cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Cook 2 medium red onions, thinly sliced, 15 large garlic cloves, finely chopped, and remaining 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 2¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt in pot, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 5 minutes. Add 1 Scotch bonnet or habanero chile, finely chopped, and ¼ cup tomato paste; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add one 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes, ½ cup natural peanut butter, 1 Tbsp. chipotle chile powder, and 1 Tbsp. dried thyme, then pour in 2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (from two 13.5-oz. cans). Mix well; bring to a simmer. Add reserved greens; return chicken to pot. Cover and transfer to oven. Braise until greens are tender and chicken is cooked through, 30–35 minutes.

Serve chicken and greens with steamed white rice and lemon wedges for squeezing over.

It’s hard to think of a more iconic West African dish than jollof rice, the red-tinged rice dish with depth, thanks to aromatics and spices that meld into a comforting tomato base. “Jollof is really a one-pot meal that is very adaptable,” says chef Isaiah Screetch, who adapted this recipe that plays with, but honors the Nigerian version of the dish, with plenty of heat from habanero and serrano chiles. Fit to feed a crowd, it makes a perfect base for skewers of grilled suya or a braised entree like Jamaican oxtail stew, partnered with a side of fried plantains.

Smoky Jollof Rice

Roma tomatoes,

red bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

habanero chile, destemmed

serrano chiles, destemmed

garlic cloves,

red onion, diced

sea salt,

smoked paprika

curry powder

cumin

cayenne

black pepper

turmeric

basmati rice

bay leaves

chicken bouillon (preferably Knorr)

scallions

cilantro

NYT Cooking

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Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

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Prepare the tomato mixture: In a blender, combine tomatoes, bell pepper, habanero, serranos, garlic, ginger and 2 cups water. Blend on high until smooth; set aside.

Prepare the rice: Heat olive oil in a large, lidded pot over medium. Add onion and salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to soften, 4 to 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and sauté, stirring often, for 2 to 3 minutes until the oil turns orange and the tomato paste darkens. Add paprika, curry powder, cumin, thyme, cayenne, black pepper and turmeric; stir and continue cooking until everything is well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir in the rice, making sure every grain of rice is coated. Add bay leaves and chicken bouillon.

Turn heat to high, stir in tomato mixture and bring to a simmer. Cover with a tight-fitting lid, adjust heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Do not remove the lid or stir rice.

Turn off heat after 20 minutes and set a timer for 15 minutes. Allow rice to sit and do not remove the lid.

After the 15 minutes are up, remove lid, and fluff rice with a fork, separating all the grains. If rice seems to be a little undercooked, stop fluffing, steam for another 5 minutes and check again.

Serve garnished with scallions and cilantro.

I would cut back the amount of oil used and also think 20 minutes wasn't enough cooking time - rice came out a bit toothy. I also subbed out Poks Jollof Rice seasoning for all the spices - delicious!

Perfection! Very straightforward preparation, yielding very flavorful results. This is a recipe I will save and make many times over. I cooked this in an enameled cast iron pan, and stirred twice during cooking only because I am terrible at judging the simmering temp for rice. It still came out great. I also subbed unrefined palm oil for half of the olive oil. I highly recommend trying that, for a little smoky funk.

I wouldn’t make this recipe again. The rice burnt twice as there is not enough liquid in the recipe. I am a confident cook and managed to save it but the rice did not cook uniformly through the recipe without stirring it. I halved the chilli but it was still nice and spicy. Good flavours despite having to babysit the cooking process.

*Use 3c. of water*
As written, there is not enough water in this recipe. I relied on my go-to rice cooking method: 1. Rinse rice until water runs clear
2. Use 1 1/3c. water for every cup of rice.  I cut the recipe by about half: 1 1/2 c. rice, so kept 2 c. water in step 1. 
3. Bring to a boil before reducing to low simmer and covering. Cooked as directed (20mins on, 15mins off). 
The dish was perfect. Will be making every week!

@Hans Deseure same thing happened to me. Even after switching pots the rice was still catching on the bottom of the pan

Rice started to burn… .  Seems like totally insufficient liquid.  Rescued it into another pot and added water.  Next time I will pre soak the rice or try even lower heat.  When using a cast iron pot, the temperature stays high for longer, perhaps that explains the difference?

VERY flavorful. I omitted the cayenne pepper since there already are two whole serranos and one whole habanero in the recipe, and the jollof is still pleasantly hot. 
I also heeded the suggestion of a commenter and added more water than specified in the recipe, but I went too far in the other direction and ended up with very moist rice. Next time, I’ll go with the 2 cups and see where I end up. 
Finally, 20 minutes on medium-low resulted in something like a tahdig on the bottom of the dish. If you like that, no problem. If you want uniformly cooked rice, turn it down to low.

The two cups of water should be included in the tomato mixture part of the recipe. Otherwise it's a great recipe, make sure to stir the rice instead of letting it sit, as the recipe says. Because I ended up with half crunchy half done rice.

I found that the rice was not fully cooked and started burning.  Maybe needs more water.

Re the (missing?)amount of water: some say it’s mentioned in either step 2 or step 4. I do not see any additional liquid mentioned anywhere. Please advise. TIA.

Yes, there's 2 c. of water in the tomato mixture, but even with the other veg, that does not seem like enough water for over 2 c. of rice. Is the chicken bouillon supposed to be reconstituted?

If you can find it at a Mediterranean market, try it with SMOKED basmati rice!

I personally use more water than this, but one option is to soak the basmati rice first (as is done in a lot of S Asian cooking), and then drain it. It will need less water.

@Ilsa K. I hate to suggest this…but is there a chance that you didn’t put a lid on the pot? A tight one, which would’ve kept all the water from boiling away?

Your saga (which is definitely disheartening!) sounds like exactly what would happen if a person was boiling rice in an uncovered pot.

So great flavor, and I followed recipe closely, but whoa, amount of liquid and cook time for the rice way off. Did the 20 min heat + 15 off heat (undisturbed) and rice was crunchy. Another 0.5 cup water, 5 min, twice, then getting frustrated so put 1 cup water for 5 more minutes. Then ANOTHER cup and another 5 minutes and turned up the heat. Disappointing results—no fluffy, all mushy 😑.

The tomato mixture prepped in Step 1, then added to the rice in step 4, includes 2 cups of water (in addition to pureed tomatoes etc.)

i read the recipe several times but could not figure out the amount of liquid -- soup, water? which is key to a good rice dish

Never heard that West Africans use olive oil! West African cuisine typically relies more on locally available oils like palm oil, groundnut (peanut) oil, and coconut oil.

I think recipe should specify the amount of water to add to chicken bouillon and boil, prior to step 3. Sounds good and very simple. Nice.

The flavor of this rice dish was excellent. Only used one Serrano chili and it was way too spicy. Recipe is correct is saying enough for a crowd. I’d make again with another adjustment to the heat.

The tomato mixture added in Step 4 includes 2 C water. In Step 3 you only stir to coat the rice, then add the liquid in Step 4.

what amount of water does the recipe suggest? two tomatoes do not seem to be sufficient amount of liquid for 2 1/4 cups of thirsty (basmati) rice.

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.

Vegetable Maafé

vegetable oil

red onion, chopped

garlic cloves, chopped

ginger,

Salt

green plantains,

vegetable stock

carrots,

butternut squash

creamy, unsalted peanut butter

tamarind purée (optional)

ground dawadawa (see Tip) fish sauce

rice,

lime, sliced, for squeezing

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

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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.

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.

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 1/4 cup hot liquid from the pot. Stir into a loose sauce.

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.

Has anyone used a substitute for the scotch bonnet? I assume cayenne pepper would work..

Great flavor profile, but I found it to be much too runny compared to mafé I have eaten in restaurants. I would reduce the liquid by 1-2 cups if I make it again.

I used miso instead of dawadawa or fish sauce as I am vegetarian, and it gave an umami boost that worked fine with the other flavors.

Fantastic! I was a bit skeptical as I proceeded through the steps, but then it all magically came together with the addition of the peanut butter mixture. Even my meat-loving husband found this veggie dish delightful and hearty. My only substitutions were cayenne and hot smoked paprika in place of the Scotch bonnet, and Marmite for the fish sauce (which worked wonderfully and I'll do it again). We lacked tamarind, but agree that the lime is essential.

This was wonderful but needed to be tweaked. To have creamy plantains, you need to sautè them first. The tamarind is really essential and elevates the flavor. I was reluctant to use 1/2 cup of peanut butter so I used 1/4 cup mixed with the water and 2 tbsp peanut powder (PB2).I did use extra fish sauce and lastly, I added a can of black-eyed peas.

Had to make do with what I had: potato, sweet potato, carrot, some shimeji mushrooms, Chinese broccoli. No tomato paste so I cooked down some of the liquid from the can of tomatoes. No scotch bonnet so I squeezed in some habanero hot sauce. Tablespoon of doenjang. Jif crunchy peanut butter. No idea if it tasted authentic, but it was delicious nonetheless.

Delicious. The green plantains I sued were very dry and tasteless -- I would try some other starchy veg next time. So much better than the recipe in Sundays at the Moosewood that eclecticos refers to. I used fish sauce.

I made this recipe as written and ended up with something close to peanut butter consistency. If I made it again I would cut the peanut butter by half or more or add broth or both.

This dish was a huge hit at a recent vegan Thanksgiving dinner - not leftovers! 'You can make this again!' one guest commented.
I didn't have scotch bonnet and substituted seeded halved jalapeno.
I have made this several times. It's excellent to serve a crowd too.

Very good! Per others suggestions: extra onion, garlic and ginger. Didn’t care for plantains- next time sub sweet potato. I took the scotch bonnet  out b4 the greens went in, perfect amount of heat. Next time add chard stems earlier than the leaves. Looking forward to trying different vegetables, maybe chicken thighs?

Cook onions etc in water, not oil. Omit tamarind, lime. Used combo sorrel and spinach. Sweet potato instead of plantain. Can of black beans instead of squash. Kohlrabi or cauliflower instead of carrot. Still amazing, 3 WW points per cup!!!!

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.

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.

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.

Exactly (or even approximately) what is the cross sectional diameter of a 1-inch piece of ginger? And where would one go to buy a "standard" piece of ginger root? All that I've ever seen are qnarly, with parts of the root going off in all directions randomly, as Nature's things do. It's easy for quantities to be off by at least half in any direction.

 Please NYT Cooking --- follow chefs like J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, using either volume or weight, like teaspoons, tablespoons, or ounces.

This is one of my absolute favorite recipes. I use fish sauce and a bit more peanut butter than the recipe calls for. I could drown in it and die happy.

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.

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

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

I've been making variations of this for over 30 years; the basic recipe I started with was from Cooking Light, I think.   The greens vary - chard, kale, spinach, collards; the heat source varies - Serrano; cayenne; jalapeño;  the starch varies (I often used diced sweet potato and/or black beans). Always tomatoes, peanut butter, greens, stock, garlic, cumin, hot pepper, onion. Sometimes  chicken thighs.   If anyone is doubting this, give it a try.  No hard to source groceries required.

Dawadawa is also available (dare I say it?) at that ultra large on-line retailer who shall go unnamed.

A Senegalese cook in Brooklyn 30 years ago taught me her recipe with chicken. She used Maggi sauce to salt the stew. I use soy sauce, cayenne pepper and sriracha. Never used plantains but I throw in carrots, peas, eggplant and zucchini whatever I have. My husband spent 2 years in Senegal during Peace Corps service. He and my daughters love this stew!! We eat it over plain couscous.

I prepared this recipe as written (except using Bragg’s Amino Acids as a substitute for fish sauce per America’s Test Kitchen recommendation for vegetarians). I also added the optional tamarind. I wouldn’t change a single thing. It was absolutely delicious served over rice.

Katzen is a genious at adopting tastes from around the world to what any American can buy in the local supermarket.

It would be helpful to note how many total cups of root vegetables are needed, esp if substitutions are made.

Made mostly as written, used chopped fresh tomatoes rather than canned, sugar dumpling squash instead of butternut, and added rutabaga. Went with the fish sauce, and subbed Korean lemon-ginger marmalade for the tamarind puree and a habanero for the Scotch Bonnet because I couldn't find either in my local grocery store. The sauce was delicious (though no heat)! The plantains were terrible, though and I would leave them out next time. Overall, good Fall dish - will make again.

For anyone allergic to Peanut Butter - you can substitute- Sunflower Seed Butter - found at most grocery stores. 

Sunflower Seed Butter has a very similar flavor to Peanut butter - without And Nuts or Peanuts in the ingredients or on the factory processing.

eclecticos also - noted this below.

No answer so I took time before doing this a 2nd time to look up OWN ?. Wiki  redirects you to 'sombala' when you enter 'dawadawa' and in very 1st paragraph states that orginal seeds used for this paste have mostly been replaced w'soy and that BOTH dawadawa & sombala are basically interchangeable with MISO which is a staple in my cooking!  Bet lots of you also have that container of MISO in your fridge!

I just made this.  Minor vegetable substitutions. No tamarind, so I used pomegranate syrup.  This is delicious!  Thanks!!

I have had this stew before with tender pieces of chicken (drumsticks and thighs mostly) that my host had browned and cooked separately and then put into the pot to simmer for a few hours. It was heavenly.

Excellent! Added ground pork and used chicken stock. Used an easily available Chinese black bean paste as sub for dawadawa. Root veggies were a combo of acorn squash, turnips, rutabagas, and parsnips. Very rifflable recipe. I could see using a lot of different left overs in this.

Top 5 west african recipes from across the web

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Nigerian-inspired Vegan Egusi (Melo...

Egusi Stew With Goat

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Smoky Jollof Rice

Vegetable Maafé

Top 5 west african recipes from across the web

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Top Tags

Nigerian-inspired Vegan Egusi (Melo...

Egusi Stew With Goat

Peanut-Butter-Braised Chicken and G...

Smoky Jollof Rice

Vegetable Maafé

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