← Nouns Cooking · West & East African

Ingredients

• 250 g raw shelled peanuts, skins removed, soaked in hot water for 1 hour
• 500 g stewing beef, cut into chunks
• 2 Onion, 1 quartered, 1 sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic, divided
• 3 cm piece Ginger, peeled
• 1 tsp Salt, plus more to taste
• 500 g spinach or washed bitter leaf, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp Ground crayfish
• 6 tbsp Vegetable oil, divided
• 300 g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 Scotch bonnet chilli, left whole (optional)

Method

1. Put the beef in a pot with the quartered onion, 2 garlic cloves, half the ginger, the salt and 1 litre of water. Simmer, covered, for 50–60 min until tender. Keep the stock.
2. Meanwhile, drain the peanuts and simmer them in fresh water for 10 min. Drain and blend with the remaining garlic and ginger and about 250 ml of the beef stock to a smooth, thick paste.
3. Pour the peanut paste into the beef pot with the crayfish and simmer gently for 15 min, stirring often from the bottom as it catches easily, until thick and creamy.
4. Stir in the greens, a handful at a time, and the scotch bonnet, if using. Simmer for 10 min. Taste for salt.
5. In a frying pan, heat 4 tbsp oil over medium heat and fry the sliced onion for 5 min until golden. Add the prawns and fry for 2–3 min until pink, then spoon both, with the oil, over the stew.
6. Fish out the scotch bonnet and serve with boiled plantain, rice or miondo (cassava sticks).

Tips

• Contains peanuts and shellfish. Traditional ndolé uses bitter leaf, washed until mild; frozen bitter leaf from African shops can replace half the spinach.
• The remaining 2 tbsp oil can be drizzled over at the end for extra richness, as in Cameroon.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Low Carb Africa Eat Well Abi