West African Peanut Soup with Kale and Sweet Potatoes

Shauna Niequist is an author who I follow, and she has amazing recipes along with powerful insight. This past week she posted a picture of this soup (which I am using) without sharing the recipe and I couldn’t get it out of my head, so I found one on New Your Times recipe site by Mark Bittman. I had almost every ingredient, just had to replenish the sweet potatoes and we were set.

West African Peanut Soup with Kale and Sweet Potatoes

2T oil

1 medium red or white onion, chopped (I used white)

1T minced ginger

1T minced garlic (I used 2-3 cloves)

1/2 lb chicken (I omitted)

3/4 c roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

pinch cayenne (I used 1/2 teaspoon)

salt

pepper

6 c chicken stock (I used fresh turkey broth)

2 sweet potatoes, chopped in large chunks

14 oz stewed tomatoes

1/2 lb kale, but into bite sized pieces

1/3 to 1/2 c natural peanut butter

Pour oil into a deep skillet and heat on medium for a minute. Add onions, ginger and garlic and heat till onions are translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add chicken and cook till changing color, another three minutes. Add 1/2 c peanuts, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Stir in the stock and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil, and turn down to medium-low heat. Add tomatoes and kale and cook for ten minutes. Stir in peanut butter and taste to determine if you need more, I used 1/2 cup, cook till heated through. Serve with remaining peanuts sprinkled on top. 4-6 servings.