Originally uploaded by mosli

This one was a fun challenge for me. I don’t have much experience preparing African foods, even though I love the flavours when I’ve had the opportunity to try it. The only thing from this dinner that i’ve made before is the fried plantains (sooo good and the perfect sweet accompanyment for the spices and savoury of the other dishes).

Placed on top of homemade injera (sort of), clockwise from the bottom is groundnut stew, fried plantains, red lentil stew, and spiced green beans with almonds centered around steamed rice.

Using this recipe from Congo Cookbook as a guideline for the Groundnut Stew, I made a vegan version.

  • 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
  • 1 medium aubergine (eggplant), cubed
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped fine
  • 1 chili pepper, chopped fine
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
  • 1 inch ginger, chopped fine
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp corriander
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 cups veggie broth
  • 1 cup natural unsalted peanut butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Steam sweet potato chunks and set aside. in a large pot saute onion, garlic, chili, ginger and tomato until all ingredients are well mixed and onions are translucent. Mix in spices, salt, and pepper. Mix in aubergine, sweet potato, and green pepper. Add veggie broth and bring to simmer. Once aubergine begins to soften, stir in peanut butter and simmer over low heat until all vegetables are tender. Serve with rice or injera.