Chicken Stew with Peanut butter

[maleficent]

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 large sweet onion, sliced
2 large sweet potatoes, cut in chunks
1 can chicken stock, low sodium if you prefer
1 can garbanzo beans (chic peas,drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter

1 tbs ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less according to taste

Destructions:
1. In a large heavy pot, add chicken, and brown quickly (doesnt need to be cooked all the way thru
2. Remove chicken from pan.
3. Reduce heat to medium low, and add garlic, onion and potato to the pan; saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Season with cumin, coriander, black pepper, red pepper watching carefully so that garlic doesn't brown.
5. Mix in broth and browned chicken, and any accumulated juices.
6; Cover pot and reduce to simmer for about 25 minutes
7. Add peanut butter and beans stirring thoroughly
8,. simmer about 15 minutes until chicken is cooke dthru and the taters are tender.

Notes:
This recipe also works even better with boneless skinless chicken thighs, or with a whole chicken -- but chicken bones freak me out so I won't even attempt it

Various Squashes can be substituted for the sweet potatoes - butternut squash works really well -and since it's available in the frozen food aisle, you can cut the cooking time in half.

Some fresh spinach, cut in ribbons at the very end is a nice touch of greenness to it...

The smell of all the spices is absolutely intoxicating - and is even better day 2 or day 3. Iwill make this on a sunday, and use it for lunch for the week...

Nutrition Info - based on recipe as is (5 servings)

Calories 327.3
Total Fat 14.6 g
Saturated Fat 2.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.6 g
Cholesterol 52.6 mg
Sodium 564.4 mg
Potassium 586.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 21.6 g
Dietary Fiber 4.2 g
Sugars 2.2 g
Protein 28.9 g

[Willravel]

You're crazy and I love it. I've experimented with pb and onions, but I never would have thought to take that three steps farther and put it in a poultry stew. I shall have to try this.

[Plan9]

Well-well, guess what I'm trying tomorrow!

I get to combine my two favorite things:

Dead animals AND peanut butter.

Thanks.

[vanblah]

Mmmm .... almost Thai ...

[maleficent]

Next time I make it - i'll probably add in some hot curry and/or cardamom to give it more spice - because of the garbonzo's I was going more towards moroccan... I think...

[Willravel]

Dude... cumin, pepper and saffron are the staples of my moroccan recipes. I love saffron.

How do you think a bit of fresh lemon juice might work?

[roachboy]

peanut butter is an ingredient in alot of dishes--particularly west african cooking--but it's also in many thai dishes (transposed for jiff of course)---i dont use the sweetened peanut butters like skippy or jiff for cooking tho (well i dont like them particularly, truth be told)--i prefer an organic peanut butter or to roast and grind the peanuts myself (this is the best way).

it works well with curry/tomato based dishes.
you can substitute pumpkin or squash for the chicken in mals recipe to make it vegetarian.

it's kinda like maafe, which is a fine thing: get thee to a senegalais resto and try it out so you know how its done before you make it yourself, though.

lemon would pull the peanut butter flavor forward in the dish (depending on how much you add and when). it can be good or it can disrupt the balance of things. taste the dish before you add it, obviously.

[maleficent]

the lemon or even lime juice and or the zest as well would probably "brighten" the flavors...