A delicious, bubbling pot of African Peanut Stew with eggplant, sweet potatoes and crunchy peanuts is the ultimate fall comfort food. The spicy-sweet vegan stew is loaded with flavor from simple spices and garlicky harissa paste. It's a dish no one will be able to resist!
This vegan African Peanut Stew is so, so, so very good!
Stews are perfect fall food, and this is the time I love to cook up hot, satisfying stews in my kitchen, including classics like this vegan gumbo, vegan mushroom stew, vegan Irish stew, vegetable stew and this African Peanut Stew.
The stew is loaded with healthy veggies like eggplants and sweet potatoes, and loaded with flavor from simple spices, including fenugreek, coriander, cumin and a garlicky, fiery harissa paste. It is both yummy and nourishing, especially when served over a bed of brown or white rice.
If you still aren't convinced you should make this African peanut stew recipe, here's what this dish really boils down to: a delicious, bubbling pot of peanut butter with tasty spices and veggies. Now how could you say no to that?
Table of Contents
Why you'll love this recipe
- It's full of flavor. There are so many layers of flavor in this stew, from a simple dry spice mix of fenugreek, coriander and cumin, from the peanut butter, from the veggies, and from the harissa paste. The stew comes together quite quickly but the flavors make this appear a greater labor of love than it really is.
- It's easy to put together. Although it sounds exotic, the ingredients in this stew are easy to find anywhere in the world, and it is just as easy to make it.
- It's soy-free and gluten-free. There are peanuts in this recipe because the peanuts form the main flavor base. If you are allergic to peanuts see the "variations" section below.
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil. Any oil, including avocado oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil or grapeseed oil. Olive oil is not preferred for sauteing but if that's what you have you can use it.
- Aromatics: Ginger and onions
- Spices: Chili peppers like scotch bonnet, serrano or jalapeno, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and harissa paste.
- Vegetables: Tomatoes, tomato paste, eggplants and sweet potatoes,
- Nuts: Creamy peanut butter, whole or halved raw peanuts. Check out the "variations" section below for nut free alternatives.
- Vegetable stock or water
- Salt to taste
Variations
- You can use potatoes, winter squash like pumpkin or butternut squash and cauliflower or other veggies of your choice in the stew. I have often used okra in this recipe and it's delicious. The sliminess of the okra helps thicken the stew without making the dish slimy.
- If you are sensitive to heat don't use scotch bonnet peppers and opt for a milder chili pepper. Also be sure to deseed. Remember you will be adding in the harissa paste, and that has plenty of heat. If you had to pick either the harissa or the fresh chili peppers, pick the harissa.
- If you have a peanut allergy but can consume other nuts, you can use almond butter or cashew butter instead. Or try this stew with pumpkin seed butter or sunflower seed butter.
How to make African Peanut Stew
1. Place the fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a blender bowl or spice grinder.
2. Blend the spices into a powder.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes until they're soft.
4. Add the ginger and minced peppers, stir to mix.
5. Add the powdered spices and mix.
6. Stir in the tomato puree and tomato paste. Mix and cook 2-3 minutes.
7. Add paprika and peanut butter and mix them in.
8. Add all the vegetables and peanuts along with 3 cups of vegetable broth or water. Mix and bring the stew to a boil. Cover, lower heat to a simmer, and cook 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
9. Finally stir in the harissa. I add a couple of tablespoons first, taste, then add more if I want to.
10. Garnish with cilantro, if using, and serve hot.
Recipe FAQs
This stew is excellent served over rice. Use a plain boiled brown rice or white rice, like basmati rice. Garnish with cilantro and, if you like, with more roasted peanuts.
You can also serve it with a chunk of crusty French bread.
You can also thin out the stew to serve it as an African peanut soup!
Actually, no. You might think that the harissa and the chili peppers would make the stew very hot. But the flavors are balanced perfectly with the sweetness of the peanut butter and sweet potatoes and what you taste is a yummy, flavor-packed stew. Remember you can also control the heat by adding as much or as little harissa as you like. If you like a lot of spice, you can add a spicier pepper, like habanero pepper or scotch bonnet pepper, to the stew.
Various versions of peanut stew or groundnut stew are cooked across West African nations like Senegal, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia, where they go by gorgeous names like maafe, nkatenkwan, domoda, akitiwa and miyan taushe. But I call my version an "African peanut stew" and not a "West African Peanut Stew" because I tie all the flavors in the peanut stew together with the spicy North African sauce, harissa.
If you don't have harissa, add 4 cloves of crushed garlic to the pot along with the fresh ginger. Use red pepper flakes or any hot sauce of your choice for heat.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: This stew can be stored in the fridge for up to three days.
- Freeze: Freeze the stew for up to three months in a freezer-safe container.
- Reheat: Thaw and reheat over the stove until warmed through.
More yummy peanut recipes
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African Peanut Stew
Equipment
- Blender or spice grinder or mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 2 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 tablespoons grated ginger
- 1 green chili pepper (minced. Use serrano or jalapeno chile peppers. Deseed or skip altogether if sensitive to heat. Remember, we'll also add the hot harissa sauce to this recipe.)
- 2 lbs eggplants (preferably tender varieties like Japanese or Chinese eggplants)
- 1 large sweet potato (diced)
- 2 tomatoes (pureed)
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¾ cup peanut butter (preferably smooth)
- ½ cup peanuts
- 4 cups vegetable stock. (or water)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3-4 tablespoons harissa
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Place the fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a blender bowl or spice grinder.
- Blend the spices into a powder
- In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes until they're soft.
- Add the ginger and minced peppers, stir to mix.
- Add the powdered spices and mix.
- Stir in the tomato puree and tomato paste. Mix and cook 2-3 minutes.
- Add paprika and peanut butter and mix them in.
- Add all the vegetables and peanuts along with 3 cups of vegetable broth or water. Mix and bring the stew to a boil. Cover and cook 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. You can add more stock if you wish to thin out the stew.
- Finally stir in the harissa. I add a couple of tablespoons first, taste, then add more if I want to.
- Garnish with cilantro, if using, and serve hot.
Recipe notes
- You can use potatoes, winter squash like pumpkin or butternut squash and cauliflower or other veggies of your choice in the stew. I have often used okra in this recipe and it's delicious. The sliminess of the okra helps thicken the stew without making the dish slimy.
- If you are sensitive to heat don't use scotch bonnet and opt for a milder chili pepper. Also be sure to deseed. Remember you will be adding in the harissa paste, and that has plenty of heat. If you had to pick either the harissa or the fresh chili peppers, pick the harissa.
- If you are allergic to peanuts but can consume other nuts, you can use almond butter instead. Or try this stew with pumpkin seed butter.
- Refrigerate: This stew can be stored in the fridge for up to three days.
- Freeze: Freeze the stew for up to three months in a freezer-safe container.
- Reheat: Thaw and reheat over the stove until warmed through.
Alison
What sort of peanuts do you use - raw shelled? This recipe sounds great and I can’t wait to try it
Vaishali
Hi Alison, use raw, shelled peanuts!
Karen
Can you freeze left overs of this stew?
Vaishali
Yes, you absolutely can!
Alisa
I made this a couple of times before, but I think this recipe has been modified? The one I followed had 20 okra and 10 small round eggplants. Really amazing taste and I’m not a fan of okra but it totally worked here!
Vaishali
Hi Alisa, you're right I did use okra in a past version of this recipe. It works wonderfully in this dish.
Julia
I agree. The okra and aubergines were wonderful in this dish. Much prefer this version to the modified version. Julia
Vaishali
Just add okra instead of the other veggies. The recipe remains the same otherwise.
Kathleen
I'm really enjoying this dish! For the spice, I did half a jalapeno and about two tablespoons of harissa. I did a diced carrot in place of the sweet potato. I used dried ginger instead of fresh, since I was too lazy to go to the store. I simmered for an hour, since I like my veggies very soft.
Vaishali
Sounds wonderful!
Nancy
I have made this recipe before and it was delicious! I have developed food sensitivities and I can't eat tomatoes (or tomato products) and I can't have eggplant. How would I modify this recipe? Just omit ingredients I can't have?
Vaishali
Hi Nancy, use any other veggie you like. Veggies like potatoes and winter squash would be awesome here.
Ti
So many ingredients. Can u suggest curry paste/ shortcuts. I am retired and getting to stores that carry some of these is difficult. Would be helpful if you could start with some recipes with less ingredients and build on these gradually. Harissa paste? How long would that sit around?
Jo
I am retired and disabled and make this dish all the time as its so easy. If shopping is a problem, you can order the spices on line. I always keep frozen okra, garlic and ginger to make life easier so I only have to chop the onion aubergine and sweet potato. I usually use tinned tomatoes too. It's delicious, nutritious and really easy to make. Not too much standing and shopping and only one pan to wash up. Give it a go 🙂
Vaishali
Hi Jo, thanks for the comment and the great tips!
Jenna
Awesome dish, I did sauté my vegetables separately in palm oil first and roasted my sweet potato’s and then added the veggies to the base. Also used chunky peanut butter and added a little extra for more flavor. This dish was delicious and allows you to make modifications to fit your taste buds.
Vaishali
So happy you loved it, Jenna!
Manning a Vegitarian in Training
I mostly cook with a presssure cooker now just because of time.
I sarted with a pot of white beans (1 cup beans which I pre soaked 8 hours, drain and add 2.5 cups of water and a small can of crushed tomatos then cook for 15 min.) to add a protein source.
Instead of all the individual spices I also went with 1TBS of regular curry powder and 1 TBS of hot curry powder 1 TBS of curry soup mix with cumin, and w/b mustard seed which I browned with 2 TBS of oil with the onion.
When the beans hit 15 min, I cooled them and added the eggplant and okara, closed it up and cooked for 10 min. More.
The result was outstanding, many thanks.
Vaishali
So great to hear. Thanks for sharing the details. Very helpful.
Supriya
Made it for dinner this week and the whole family loved it (including the “no eggplant” contingent). In rotation.
Vaishali
So happy you loved it!
Dondi
Winner!!!
Vaishali
Awesome!!!
Elyse
This was incredible! I made it tonight for dinner and was seriously not disappointed! I was a bit worried cause peanut butter often signals “heavy,” but the other ingredients kept it lighter, but still hearty. Thank you! Excellent recipe.
Vaishali
Hi Elyse, you are right, it's not heavy at all, and it makes a lot of servings. So happy you loved the stew.
Jamie
This was excellent! I just used the ready-made harissa from Trader Joe's. Even my toddler gobbled it up!
Vaishali
So happy to hear!
Martha
Vaishali, I've tried other peanut stew recipes, and this one is by far the best. The harissa really makes all the difference. We gobbled it all down for dinner. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Vaishali
So happy you loved it, Martha. Thanks for the kind words.
kathychatblog
A few questions: 1) about how many cups of okra rounds? I bought small okra. 2) If i already have ground fenugreek seed. coriander seed, and cumin seed, are the amounts still correct? I am looking forward to making this!
Anonymous
I had been wanting to make this ever since I stumbled across this recipe. Finally, I'm there. It's stewing with all ingredients and it already tastes great. Thanks for the recipe. Would you happen to know what's the name of this dish locally or in Africa or wherever it is locally made?
naleśniki
They will love it! It’s so yummy ; ).
Sarah Smith
Nothing better than soups and stews for winter with crusty bread... yummy.
Okra is as a new addition part in this recipe for me because I tried it before without the okra.
I like this idea, so must try it... it looks very delicious.
Thank you so much
Krithika
I think I have all the ingredients to make this, but I'm going a little nuts trying to calculate how to scale this back. If I wanted to make just enough for 2 to 3 servings, what vegetable quantities should I start with?
Vaishali Honawar
Krithika, just scale back proportionately. If you want half the quantity or one-fourth, cut back the ingredients by half or a fourth.
Krithika
I made this for dinner last night with approximately the same ratio of vegetables to peanut butter and winged it with the rest of the ingredients. I didn't have sweet potato, so skipped it and added more eggplant and okra. Also subbed in Sambal Oelek instead of the Harissa paste. It was wonderful!! The peanut butter and chili paste combined together to make a lovely sweet-spicy base and the okra and eggplant was so flavorful! I didn't even bother with rice or quinoa, just ate it as is. I'll be making this again, especially during these cold winter months. Thank you so much for a great recipe!
Vidhya
We do not eat eggplants at home. Is there a different vegetable that could be used with the okra?
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Vidhya, yes, you can use all sorts of veggies-- zucchini or carrots would be great here.
Annapurna Jones
Looks yummy! Making this tonight with the last of okra and eggplant from the garden.
You are so right about those veggies. Most people don't know how to make them and think they are yucky. My daughter says, I should go teach her school cafeteria how to make okra. They serve the gooey okra at school and no one eats it.
Juliecb
This was insane delish. made last night, cannot wait for lunch. and dinner. 🙂
Gage
Just wondering if ground coriander and cumin would be ok rather than the seeds?
Vaishali Honawar
That's fine because they have to be powdered anyway.
tony
can another nut be used instead of peanuts, n not have them
Vaishali Honawar
You won't get the same flavor-- the peanut is a key ingredient. Cashew would give a good result, but again, a rather different one.
Amber
Peanut stew is one of the few vegetarian/vegan dishes my extended family enjoys, I am so excited to try this recipe!! I tend to add frozen spinach to everything, I think that would work well here too 🙂 Thank you for all your amazing recipes!
Vaishali Honawar
Amber, frozen spinach would be great here-- what a healthful idea to add it to every dish.
Anna
Hi Vaishali,
What happened to your RSS feed? The last update I received is from August 11th.
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Anna, it seems to have just gone belly up-- I have no tech savvy so really am not able to figure it out. If possible, please subscribe to the email updates in the sidebar. Sorry about the inconvenience.
Gary
This looks amazing! I just made the harissa paste and will make the stew tomorrow. I noticed that you don't indicate where/when to add the optional chilis, if you are using them. Should they be diced and added to the onions near the beginning? Or is that what is sliced lengthwise and added as garnish in your photos?
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Gary, add them with the onions. Hope you like the stew!
Gary
Just finished making the stew. And I had to go back into the kitchen for a second bowl! Wow! It's so good. I have to admit I was nervous around 20 minutes into letting this simmer. It was pale in color and was still tasting a bit "raw". But once the 30 minutes were up, and ESPECIALLy after adding the homemade harissa - Whoa! What a transformation! This is amazing.
By the way, I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but I make an effort to include both kinds of recipes in my diet. I have a hard time gobbling down my necessary servings of vegetables, but your recipes make it easy! With Indian (or in this case, African) cooking methods and spices, you don't even think twice about it being vegan. And that's the best. Why try to make a "fake meat" substitute?...just make something good that is naturally vegan! And that's why your site is the best! Thank you for doing it! Now I'm going back to my second bowl of stew.
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Gary, thanks for the feedback-- so glad you liked the stew! That harissa sure is mindblowing, isn't it? Thanks for your kind words.
Priti
There's an ad for McD's buttermilk crispy chicken on your header. Just thought I should let you know.
Vaishali Honawar
Thanks for the heads up, Priti. I try to filter out non-veg ads, but sometimes they occasionally show up.
Anonymous
Hi, I'm making this tomorrow.
I made the Curried Tofu Wraps and they were delicious. Thanks so much!
Vaishali Honawar
Hi Anon, so glad you tried them! Thanks for letting me know.
Megan
This looks delicious! How long will this keep in the fridge?
Vaishali
About 4-5 days!
Ambica
Yum...I want to make this right away.