All over West Africa, groundnuts are used commonly in everyday cooking. In this recipe I’ve used peanut butter to substitute for groundnuts but I’ve maintained a lot of the typical West African spices. The Aleppo pepper, the chilies and the coriander give this a true west African feel. The fat in the coconut oil and the peanut butter really helps bring out the flavor of the spices. The millet used in this recipe is a high-protein complex carbohydrate grain commonly used in African cuisine, it grows well in the arid lands typical of the region. For this recipe, the millet has been pre-cooked with a ratio of 2 1/2 cups water to 1 cup of millet until it becomes fluffy. You can usually find millet in most large groceries these days, otherwise you can look in smaller specialty ethnic shops or health food stores or you can even substitute quinoa, amaranth, teff or even rice in the recipe. I hope you enjoy this will be putting up more recipes on a weekly basis. If you want to learn more about basic cooking techniques and ways to make your meals more flavorful and nutritious register today for the next session of workshops.
Ingredients
1 medium onion
3 green onions
4 small tomatoes
beef or chicken broth
175 mL peanut butter
500mL cooked millet
1 dried chili pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
3 stalks fresh coriander
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
In the frying pan sauté the dry spices until they become aromatic.
Grind the spices in a mortar or coffee grinder.
Roughly chop the onions, green onions and the stalks from the fresh coriander.
In a frying pan over medium heat, add the coconut oil, onions, green onions, coriander stalks and spices.
Sauté over medium heat until the onions are softened.
Add the millet and cook until the millet has absorbed some of the juices from the onions.
Cut the four small tomatoes into cubes.
Add tomatoes and cook over medium heat until the tomatoes are completely softened.
Add the peanut butter and stir in chicken broth until desired consistency is achieved.
Serve with chopped coriander, some spicy oil and freshly ground pepper leaves as a topping.
