Spicy Peanut Stew

Spicy Peanut Stew

walnut oil

1 medium onion

1 celery stalk

ginger

garlic

1 medium sweet potato

4 or 5 tomatoes

green chile

1 red bell pepper

1 lb butternut or acorn squash

chicken breasts

1/2 cup or so creamy peanut butter

Use a very large pan for this. First, heat the oil and cook onions, celery, garlic, and ginger about 5 minutes. Add diced chicken and cook until it's almost done. Add chopped sweet potato and tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 cups of water, season with salt and pepper, and simmer partially covered about 10 minutes. Add squash and bell pepper and cook about 15 more minutes until vegetables are tender. Whisk peanut butter with 1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water in small bowl. Add to stew, stirring constantly for about 4 minutes or until stew is nice and thick. Pour over rice and eat.

I tweaked this recipe slightly from the May/June 2007 issue of Vegetarian Times. My brother sent me a goodie box this week full of old vegetarian magazines. I'm not a vegetarian, and he knows that, but some of the recipes look delicious. I figure if vegetarian recipes can take meat recipes and replace the meat, I can do the reverse with veg recipes.

For this one, I omitted cauliflower, because I'm still not that brave, and substituted chicken. The rest is pretty much the same, except I left out a spicy cucumber sauce for the top. I thought the recipe was great, but it had a strong peanut-buttery flavor. If you're used to this type of cuisine and like it, you'll be fine. If the milder (some would say blander) side of eating is not your thing, use more green chile.

As you can see, I poured the whole thing over basmati rice, but brown rice was suggested in the original recipe.