Spicy Instant Pot African Peanut Stew

by Andrew Olson October 9, 2020, 10:36 am

Peanut butter is without a doubt my favorite food. I basically never go a day without peanut butter. In fact, I hardly go a meal without it. A quick glance at my recipes will show you that I really like to put peanut butter in everything.

There’s hardly any type of food group that I have left untouched by peanut butter. Breakfast? Of course. Snacks? Yes and yes again. Pasta? Definitely. Dessert? More. Than. Once. Soup? Hmm… No.

Let’s change that!

When I discovered that you can make a SOUP WITH PEANUT BUTTER, no one had to ask me twice to get out there and try it. It turns out, there’s a classic African-style soup with peanuts + sweet potatoes. This totally makes sense because I always put peanut butter on orange sweet potatoes (you shouldn’t be surprised about that by now). The two flavors work so well in a soup, the sweetness, the richness, the hint of tomato, the spices. It’s pretty delicious.

Also! This is my first Instant Pot recipe. I’ve been terrified of the thing for years and avoided the IP Cult for as long as possible, but now, here I am… and I have to say – the Instant Pot is definitely the right way to make this soup. 10 minutes of high pressure and the potato chunks are fully cooked (compared with 60+ minutes on the stovetop). It’s like magic. Then, give it a quick whirl with an immersion blender and you’ve got an incredibly sweet, creamy, spicy, flavorful soup in <30 minutes from start to finish.

Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 small sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 small red onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups fresh greens (kale, etc.)
4 green onions, for garnish
Crushed peanuts, for garnish (optional)
Brown rice, for serving

Prep: Cook some grains (brown rice, quinoa, barley, etc.) according to package instructions when you’re ready to serve. Alternatively, you can just prepare it as a soup with no grain if that’s how you want to do it.

Step One

Turn your instant pot onto sautée mode with a splash of water and add in the following as you chop them: diced red onion, minced garlic, fresh grated ginger, and tomato paste. Also add in the spices: smoked paprika, salt, and cayenne (more or less depending on your spicy preference). Give this a stir and let it sautée until the onions are soft and translucent. Then, turn the Instant Pot off momentarily.

Step Two

Chop the sweet potatoes into small chunks and add them to the instant pot along with 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 4 cups vegetable broth. Then set your Instant Pot for 10 minutes of pressure cooking, put on the lid and quickly RUN into the other room in case it explodes…

Step Three

After 10 minutes of pressure cooking, allow the steam to release naturally for 10 more minutes before venting the rest manually. I chose to pulse with an immersion blender in order to thicken the soup. You can either do 2-3 quick pulses to leave some chunks behind, or 5-7 pulses to make it smoother and more consistent. Once the texture is right, add in the 3-4 cups of kale / chard / spinach / collards and they will quickly wilt down to nothing.

[Also give the soup a taste and feel free to add anything you’d like. If your peanut butter was unsalted, you may add another dash, or more spices, or even another grating of fresh ginger.]