West African Peanut Soup

My friend (and fellow foodie), Elle, shared this delicious recipe she found in our local newspaper with me last week. I have always loved African Peanut Stew, but I have yet to blog a recipe! This one is worth blogging as it's quite easy to make with minimal ingredients. I took the original recipe, halved it, and added my own flare, including blending the majority of the ingredients to make it a smooth soup instead of a chunky stew (which I know my kids wouldn't eat). The chicken, chickpeas or brown rice is added after the blending (I chose brown rice). I also added crushed peanuts as a garnish. The results were a tasty, hearty peanut butter soup that warmed us thoroughly on a frigidly cold Monday night.

I served the soup with homemade biscuits and a side kale salad. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 Tbl olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 Tbl garlic, chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tbl fresh ginger, grated
1 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder
1 15oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth, plus more broth or water to thin
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Salt & pepper, to taste
1/2 lb of chicken, cooked and cubed OR  1 -15oz can of chickpea OR brown rice, cooked
A couple Tbl of crushed peanuts for garnish, optional

Directions:
Add olive oil to a large soup pot on low/medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, fresh ginger and curry powder and continue to cook while you gather up the rest of your ingredients. Add the tomatoes, broth and peanut butter. Stir everything until mostly combined (the peanut butter will thin as it heats). Bring soup to a simmer and cook on low for about thirty minutes or until the sweet potatoes are thoroughly cooked through.

Turn heat off and let the soup cool a bit. I just left my soup sitting for an hour and then came back to blend it. If you do not have time to wait for the soup to cool be very careful when you blend in the blender. Please make sure the center piece is taken out of the blender lid so the heat can escape as it purees (place a clean towel over the open center piece to catch any soup that might escape as it blends). Pour blended soup back into the pot. Take inventory on the thickness now - how thick or thin does your family like soup? I ended up adding a good 2 cups of water/broth back into the blended soup because we prefer a thinner soup. Just add liquid according to taste.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Also add chicken OR chickpeas OR rice OR nothing at all if you like it as is! Heat until desired temperature and serve. Sprinkle with crushed peanuts, if you like. Enjoy!