Recipe: African Peanut Stew

One compliment that my husband gives me from time to time is telling friends that I'm "like the MacGyver of the kitchen." My thing is getting dinner on the table with whatever is in the fridge. My MacGyver answer is one of my favorite weeknight dinners. Simple, unexpected and totally delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small cayenne (or other spicy) pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 head of cabbage (or red cabbage), sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (about 2 cups)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups stewed tomatoes or tomato pieces
• 2-4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2-4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Directions

Saute onion, ginger, garlic, and red pepper in the oil 3-5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add cabbage, and sauté another few minutes. Add water and salt, cover and let cook until cabbage is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, and sweet potato. Taste for seasoning. Let cook until sweet potato has softened, about 10 minutes. Add peanut butter and chopped cilantro. Stir into the stew until combined. Add a little cider or rice vinegar if the vegetables are very sweet and you want it to "pop" a bit.

Serve with whole wheat couscous.

This recipe was written by Kim Bayer and originally posted on AnnArbor.com on Feb. 14, 2012.