African Peanut Stew

Lately, I’ve been craving soup. Last week, it was cloudy in San Diego, and I wanted something hot that would warm me up. I have always loved the vegan recipes that come from the Oh She Glows blog. So you can imagine how excited I was when I received the newly released The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out as a gift (thank you Jennifer!) . Angela Liddon has outdone herself with this group of recipes. Another plus? There are beautiful, photography award worthy pictures of the dishes along side the recipes.

Gather up the African Peanut Stew ingredients.

And peel the sweet potato. Unfortunately, my peeler recently disappeared. Luckily, its possible to do a passable peeling job with a knife.

Then dice the onion and garlic and throw it into a saucepan with the olive oil.

Then it’s time to chop up the sweet potato, red bell pepper, and jalapeno. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that the sweet potatoes cook while they’re in the soup and don’t have to be prepared in the oven separately.

Then its time to add the tomatoes — with the juices!

Combine the peanut butter and a cup of veggie broth. I found that putting them over heat helped dissolve the peanut butter clumps! Then add the peanut butter/veggie broth and the remaining vegetable broth to the saucepan.

Then fold in the spices.

Simmer the soup until the sweet potatoes are tender. Then strain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to the saucepan.

Finally, you’re ready to add the spinach or kale (I used kale).

After a few minutes, the kale will wilt, and the soup is ready to eat!

I love this soup, especially the creamy, rich flavor of the broth which I credit to the peanut butter. This soup is great as an appetizer or as a meal of its own. The chickpeas and sweet potatoes give it great substance. And of course, it’s an easy way to get a serving of leafy greens into your diet!