RECIPE | Portia Mbau's Cameroonian peanut and chicken stew

"I usually put this on the restaurant menu in winter because it's a rich, warming dish," says Portia Mbau of Cape Town's The Africa Café.

"A lot of meat and vegetable dishes in West Africa, from Congo to Cameroon, are prepared with groundnuts. The Ghanaians I've met speak fondly of peanut soup. The 'soup' (which is more of a stew) may be made with chicken, beef, lamb or goat."

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

10 chicken thighs

15ml (1 tbsp) salt

15ml (1 tbsp) ground ginger

125ml (½ cup) peanut oil

250ml (1 cup) finely chopped onion

10ml (2 tsp) crushed garlic

5ml (1 tsp) finely chopped fresh ginger

Pinch (¼ tsp) cayenne pepper

5ml (1 tsp) white pepper

5 medium-sized tomatoes, blanched, peeled and chopped

60ml (¼ cup) tomato paste

4 cups boiling water

250ml (1 cup) peanut butter

Lemon wedges for serving

Method:

1. Dry the chicken pieces with paper towel. Rub salt and ground ginger into each piece.
2. Heat oil in a pot over high heat. Brown chicken pieces in the pot and transfer to a plate. Pour off some of the oil, leaving about a quarter cup in the pot.
3. Fry the onion over medium heat until golden brown. Add the garlic, ginger, cayenne and white pepper. Simmer the browned onions and spices for five minutes over low heat.
4. Add the tomato and tomato paste, stir and cook for 15 minutes. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and return chicken pieces to the pot. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
5. Stir in the peanut butter, cover the pot and continue to cook for half an hour or until done.
6. Serve with basmati rice, roti or flatbread and lemon wedges on the side.

• Recipe and image from Portia Mbau's cookbook 'Africa Cookbook' (Quivertree Publications, R390).