African Pineapple Peanut Stew Recipe
But I cook meals all the time that the Omnivore thinks he doesn’t like. And I blog those. And, we’ve recently learned, the Omnivore places this meal as near and dear to his heart as I do.
I could blame the lack of its presence on the blog on the fact that the ingredients are hard to come by, and so I haven’t eaten much of this meal over the past year. But that, too, would be stretching it. After all, peanut butter is a pantry staple ’round here and crushed pineapple isn’t too exotic either.
I guess I’m not so guilty, though, because I’ve at least mentioned it once. I adapted the recipe for my pizza. That was amazing. I think I’ll do that again. And I know I recommend this recipe an awful lot. I’ve just never blogged it. So,well, I’m patching that up right now.
I really consider this a pantry meal. I, for the most part, always have the main components of this dish on hand. Since I love this meal so much, crushed pineapple has become as much of a staple as flour and sugar in our house. I’m sure after you try this dish once, the canned crushed pineapple will be everpresent in your cabinets as well.
Peanut butter is the other star in this recipe: crunchy or smooth work just fine. Add a whole some carb (whole wheat cous cous, here) and you’ve got your meal.
Beyond the pantry staples, the recipe calls for a hearty green, like chard or kale. I’ve used both in the recipe. I’ve also used broccoli, and spinach, and cauliflower, as you see here. Any sturdy vegetable works, really. This recipe is *that* good.
- African Pineapple Peanut Stew (serves 4, adapted from Moosewood)
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 4 cups torn, washed, spinach
- 1/2 head cauliflower
- 2 cups undrained canned crushed pineapple (20-ounce can)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- salt to taste
- crushed skinless peanuts
- chopped scallions
In a covered saucepan, saute’ the onions and garlic in with nonstick cooking spray for about 10 minutes, until the onions are lightly browned. While the onions saute’, wash the spinach and cauliflower. Remove and discard the large stems and any blemished leaves. Stack the leaves on a cutting surface and slice crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Cut the cauliflower into florets.
To the onions, add the pineapple and its juice to the onions and bring to a simmer. Stir in the vegetables and cover, stirring a couple of times until they just tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in the peanut butter, Tabasco, and cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste, and serve.
PER 8 OZ SERVING: 225 CALORIES, 7.4 G PROTEIN, 12 G FAT, 25. 7 G CARBOHYDRATE, 169 MG SODIUM, 0 MG CHOLESTEROL