This West African Peanut stew is completely vegan, and high in protein with tofu and chickpeas. It’s also surprisingly inexpensive to make, with peanut butter, vegetable stock, tomato paste, collard greens, chickpeas, 1 sweet potato, and tofu being the main ingredients. Many of the components of this delicious and hearty meal could be acquired for under $1 dollar!
So earlier this week, I posted a picture of my dinner on r/budgetfood, a subreddit for delicious and inexpensive meals. I’ve made this West African Peanut Stew recipe by Cookie + Kate a few times, and recently added some creative additions to it. After I posted on r/budgetfood, it surprisingly blew up. A lot of users wanted to know my own additions so I typed it up here.
I definitely changed quite a bit, particularly with my affinity for Serrano peppers and I added tofu since much-needed protein crunch. The result is a delicious meal that’ll feed up to four people and last many servings. Perfect for leftovers and inexpensive and mouth-watering meal prep! Make sure to check out Kate’s original from her book Love Real Food though. It’s a classic and a much-loved cookbook that I’ve gone back to many, many, times.
A caveat about the dish is that I’m not West African myself nor have I been there and tried an authentic version of the dish. This is modified from a food writer who is also not of that origin. I imagine like many popular dishes like Kung Pao chicken or Chicken Tikka Malasa, it’s been taken out of its original form, and regionalized for Western or non-native eaters. From what I’ve looked up, this dish is also called maafe/mafé in some regions, and most recipes from African writers seem to show meat included in the recipe. I would love to try a vegetarian version of the real thing one day! In the meantime, however, I won’t call this an authentic West African dish myself, nor do I suggest trying this and saying you made one.
Here’s my version of the West African Peanut Stew – 100% vegan and with tofu. Enjoy!
Vegan Tofu & Chickpea West African Peanut Soup
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
- Peeler
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 red onion
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
- 2 Serrano peppers
- salt
- ½ tablespoon ginger paste or two tablespoons grated & minced ginger
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- ¾ cups peanut butter
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 medium bunch collard greens, ribs removed & chopped
- 1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained
- 1 package of extra-firm or firm tofu, cut into slabs
- 1 tsp Sriracha garlic chili sauce or hot sauce of choice
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cayenne powder
Garnishes
- ¼ chopped peanuts
- ¼ chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven, warm the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, sweet potato, chili pepper, and a dash of salt. Cook and stir until onions are translucent and sweet potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Then add the ginger, garlic, and salt.
- Pour in vegetable broth and water, and increase the heat to medium-high, bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, once the broth is hot, combine the peanut butter and tomato paste together. Transfer 1-2 cups of the hot broth to really mix the two together, until it is mostly smooth. Then pour the mixture back into the soup and mix well.
- Add the collard and chickpeas together into the soup, then add the tofu. Add the spices – the tumeric, cayenne powder, and chili powder. Cook until soup is nice and thick, for 15-25 minutes, stirring every so often so nothing sticks to the bottom. Then season the soup with hot sauce if you like. Then remove the pot from heat.
- Serve with brown rice and a sprinkle of chopped peanuts and cilantro.
Hot Sauce & The Heat
What can I say, I love a bit of heat in my soup! And I’m a huge fan of Serrano peppers.
I added the turmeric for earthiness, and the chili powder and cayenne powder for heat. I’m also a huge fan of Sriracha’s chili garlic sauce, rather than their more milder signature sauce, which for many Asian folks like myself, is more like ketchup. I didn’t find this soup overpowering at all, but you can always add even more peppers and more hot sauce.
To ease up the spice, you’re always welcome to omit the spices I mentioned and swap for simply pepper or some paprika instead.
Budget Friendly
It’s hard to measure exactly how much materials cost once it comes to things like oil and veggie stock, since you’re only using a small portion of each. But let’s say we go ahead and do that math, and cut out the spices and garnishes for now. These prices are cross-referenced with Target, Walmart, and USDA statistic prices per proud, and the math done quickly in my head or on the calculator, so my apologies if they’re a little off.
Plus, you can always save on veggie stock by making your own, with scraps. Sustainability is also a huge passion of mine, and even better when you can make awesome veggie stock for essentially free!
Here’s how much this West African Peanut Stew with tofu and chickpeas will cost:
- 1 Red Onion (.70)
- 1 piece of ginger (.30)
- 4 garlic cloves (.20)
- 1 sweet potato (.15)
- 1 bunch of collard Greens (.65)
- 1 Package of Tofu (1.70)
- about 1/4 a container of Peanut Butter (.75)
- 1 can of chickpeas (0.69)
- 1 container of Vegetable Broth (2.99)
That’s looking at a total of $8.13 for a total of about 6 meals! And coming at only $5.14 if you make your own vegetable broth. Now that’s what I call a good deal!
Let me know what you think about this hearty and protein-rich West African Peanut Stew recipe!
Note, this blog post contains an affiliate link from Amazon for the book I mentioned. I get a small commission if items are purchased through the link at no cost to the buyer.
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