This vegan African Peanut Stew is like eating a hot, bubbling pot of peanut butter with delicious veggies dunked inside. Moroccan Harissa paste adds spice and sass. Vegan, gluten-free, soy-free recipe.
Maybe I should have called this the Recipe with the Veggies Everyone Loves to Hate. But why get off to a bad start when this vegan African Peanut Stew is so, so, so very good.
Although I bashed the okra and the eggplant there, these two veggies are actually top favorites in our home. Everyone loves them, including little Jay, and Desi would lap them up if I were to serve them for breakfast and dessert.
As for me, okra was my favorite vegetable growing up (in India they go by the rather Halloweeny name “lady’s fingers”), and it was because my mom knew just how to make them: the little rounds of okra, roasted in a kadhai, or an Indian wok, would be tender, perfectly crisp, and would have no scary slime clinging to them. Okra has a rather neutral taste and a few simple spices, like red chilies and mustard seeds, would add incredible, subtle flavor. It was, quite simply, the most perfect vegetable dish.
To date that is my most favorite way to cook and eat okra, but sometimes I like to stray. One of my favorite okra recipes is this gluten-free gumbo, which I make again and again. Now, I am adding this African Peanut Stew to that list.
Something strange happens to okra when it is boiled in a pot of liquid– instead of becoming slimier, as you would expect it to, it thickens the stew and becomes perfectly tender and delicious. The eggplant, another reviled veggie, makes a perfect score in this stew too, becoming soft and rather melt-in-the-mouth. If you didn’t like okra, or eggplant, or both, this is the stew to change your mind. Bringing all of this goodness together is the smooth creaminess of peanut butter and the garlicky, big bite of the Harissa paste.
If you still aren’t convinced, here’s what this recipe really boils down to: a delicious, bubbling pot of peanut butter with some incredible spices and veggies floating in it. Could you say no to that?
African Peanut Stew with Eggplant and Okra
Ingredients
- 20 pods of okra, cut into thin rounds
- 10 small round eggplants, cut into a small dice (preferably, go for the small eggplants used in Indian cooking, or Japanese eggplants, which are very tender. If using Japanese eggplants, use five. The large variety is fine too, at a pinch-- use half of a large one in this recipe)
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 green chili peppers like serrano or jalapeno (optional -- you also add Harissa at the the end and that has plenty of heat. If you had to pick one, pick the Harissa)
- 1 large sweet potato, diced
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 tomatoes, pureed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (tomato ketchup is a neat substitute-- you won't be able to tell the difference because this recipe already has some sweetness because of the peanuts)
- 3/4 cup peanut butter (I like using smooth but use chunky by all means for more texture to your stew)
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- 5 cups vegetable stock. Use water at a pinch
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 cup Harissa paste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Powder the fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds and set aside.
- 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 stir to mix, about thirty seconds, then add the powdered spices and the tomato paste.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato paste is almost dry. Add the tomato puree, paprika, peanut butter and vegetable stock.
- Stir until everything's well combined. Add all the vegetables and peanuts and bring the stew to a boil.
- Cover, turn the heat to low, and let the stew cook 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are really tender. Add more water or vegetable stock if the stew gets really thick.
- Stir in the harissa, a little at a time, until you have the heat you desire. Add salt to taste.
- Serve hot with rice or quinoa.
Nutrition
**
More peanutty goodness from the blog:
Chili peppers in a peanut sauce, Mirch ka Salan:
Yum…I want to make this right away.
Hi, I’m making this tomorrow.
I made the Curried Tofu Wraps and they were delicious. Thanks so much!
Hi Anon, so glad you tried them! Thanks for letting me know.
There’s an ad for McD’s buttermilk crispy chicken on your header. Just thought I should let you know.
Thanks for the heads up, Priti. I try to filter out non-veg ads, but sometimes they occasionally show up.
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?
Hi Gary, add them with the onions. Hope you like the stew!
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.
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.
Hi Vaishali,
What happened to your RSS feed? The last update I received is from August 11th.
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.
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!
Amber, frozen spinach would be great here– what a healthful idea to add it to every dish.
can another nut be used instead of peanuts, n not have them
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.
Just wondering if ground coriander and cumin would be ok rather than the seeds?
That’s fine because they have to be powdered anyway.
This was insane delish. made last night, cannot wait for lunch. and dinner. 🙂
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.
We do not eat eggplants at home. Is there a different vegetable that could be used with the okra?
Hi Vidhya, yes, you can use all sorts of veggies– zucchini or carrots would be great here.
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?
Krithika, just scale back proportionately. If you want half the quantity or one-fourth, cut back the ingredients by half or a fourth.
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!
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
They will love it! It’s so yummy ; ).
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?
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!
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.
This was excellent! I just used the ready-made harissa from Trader Joe’s. Even my toddler gobbled it up!
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.
Winner!!!
Made it for dinner this week and the whole family loved it (including the “no eggplant” contingent). In rotation.
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.