Groundnut stew

This is one of those simple but delicious dishes that is perfect any time of the year and reminds us of our time in West Africa. Most of southern Ghanaian cuisine consists of stews, soups or sauces served with one of a number of different starches. Groundnut stew is commonly based on peanut butter combined with either a fish or meat stock and served most often with fufu (thoroughly pounded yam, cocoyam, plantain, or casava, but ideally two of these together) or omo tuo (pounded rice balls). We usually serve it with plain rice or with a quinoa millet pilaf. (Half quinoa, half millet, rinsed, drained and heated over a pan until it starts to smell nutty. Add twice as much water as grains and cook on low until the water has evaporated.) Here we have fried plantain, which is not at all traditional, but is really tasty. What follows is our vegetarian version of the dish.
Pour a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil into a soup pot and begin to saute one large quartered (or eighthed, depending on size) onion. Add garlic (if, like us, you can't help yourself) and chilies to taste. All Ghanaian soups have some amount of pepe to them, but know that the fat in the peanut butter will absorb a great deal of the heat. I find that one habenero gives both the right amount of heat and proper tropical flavor (Ghanaian chilies are most commonly scotch bonnet or other habenero relatives, such as the tiny green pawpaw shiito). Otherwise, three to four Thai chiles will also create a nice spice level.
Add about 1/3rd to 1/2 cup peanut butter, the more roasty toasty flavor the better (look in the bulk section of your natural foods store). As this cooks, you can adjust the amount of peanut butter or water to suit your tastes. If you want real Ghanaian flavor, also add one Maggi Cube (for vegetarians we'd recommend the onion cube if you can find it). The big secret is to let this gently boil for about 45 minutes, at which point the many bits of peanut butter floating around in water/stock will transform into a rich, smooth emulsion. For an even smoother soup, you could blend it at this point, but we like the chunky. Add some salt and check the spicing. At this point we often add either potato or sweet potato. In the last ten minutes of cooking, add one or two sectioned tomatoes. So good. (Julie notes: You can also add fresh spinach, more tomatoes and avocado at the last minute for extra tastiness.)