West African-Style Groundnut Stew with Tofu and Collards
Browned tofu and sweet potato simmered in a thick peanut and tomato broth with ginger and cayenne, with collard greens stirred through at the end.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Groundnut stew is the pot I make when the house is cold and I want one thing on the stove for an hour that nobody has to stand over. Versions of it turn up across West Africa, thickened with peanuts and built on tomato, and what I love about it is how much body it gets from so little. A quarter cup of peanut butter turns a thin tomato broth into something that coats a spoon. I brown the tofu first so it can sit in that broth without going to pieces, and the whole thing feeds four people out of one pot with enough left for a lunch.
Each thing comes out of the pan before the next goes in. Tofu browns in a dry-ish pan until the faces are golden and it comes out, so it keeps its edges. Then the onion, ginger, and garlic soften in what is left, the tomato paste goes in and darkens for a minute, and that darkening is where the depth comes from. Peanut butter and crushed tomatoes go in together and are whisked smooth before any broth arrives, because peanut butter dropped into liquid clumps and stays clumped. Sweet potato simmers until a knife slides in, and the collards go in for the last eight minutes only.
It eats sweet, savory, and slowly hot all at once, which is the balance the cayenne and the lime are there to hold. The sweet potato gives up starch as it cooks and thickens the pot further, so by the end a spoon leaves a track through it. Lime juice off the heat is what stops it from feeling heavy, and I would not skip it. This is a genuine one-bowl dinner, filling in the way a stew built on tofu and peanuts is filling, and it is better on the second day than it was on the first.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 lb firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 large bunch collard greens (about 10 oz), stems removed and leaves cut into wide ribbons
- 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup unsweetened peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
- 1 3/4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp avocado oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp lime juice, plus wedges to serve
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Press and brown the tofu: Press the tofu between two towels under a heavy pan for fifteen minutes, then cut it into 1-inch cubes. Heat the avocado oil in a wide, heavy pot over medium-high and lay the cubes in one layer. Leave them undisturbed for four minutes, until the underside is golden and lifts cleanly, then turn and give them three minutes more. Move them to a plate.
- Build the base: Lower the heat to medium and add the onion with the salt. Cook for six or seven minutes, stirring, until it is soft and translucent at the edges. Add the ginger and garlic and cook one minute more, until the kitchen smells sharp and sweet, then stir in the tomato paste and let it fry against the bottom of the pot for a full minute until it darkens to brick red.
- Whisk in the peanut butter: Add the peanut butter and the crushed tomatoes and whisk hard until the peanut butter has disappeared completely into the tomato and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Doing this before any broth goes in is what keeps the stew from ending up with pale lumps floating in it.
- Simmer the sweet potato: Pour in the broth, add the cayenne, and stir until smooth. Add the sweet potato chunks, bring it up to a bare simmer, then cover and cook for 18 to 20 minutes. It is ready when a knife goes into a piece of sweet potato with no resistance and the broth has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Return the tofu and add the collards: Stir the browned tofu back in with any juices from the plate, then pile the collard ribbons on top and press them down into the liquid. Cover and cook eight minutes, until the greens have gone deep green and tender but still have body when you bite one. Stir them through the stew.
- Finish with lime: Take the pot off the heat and stir in the lime juice. Taste and add more cayenne if you want more heat at the back of the throat. Let it stand five minutes before serving, which thickens it slightly and lets the tofu take on the broth. Serve with extra lime wedges.
Variations
- Tempeh in its place: Cubed tempeh browned the same way gives a firmer, nuttier bite and holds up even better in the pot.
- Butternut and okra: Swap the sweet potato for butternut squash and add a cup of sliced okra in the last ten minutes for a thicker, more southern-tasting stew.
- Almond butter: Almond butter used in place of peanut butter makes a paler, more delicate stew that suits a lighter hand with the cayenne.
- Smoky: A teaspoon of smoked paprika with the tomato paste gives the pot a slow, smoldering background.
- Extra beans: A drained can of black-eyed peas stirred in with the collards makes it heartier and stretches it to six.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps five days in a sealed container in the refrigerator and improves for the first two. The tofu absorbs the peanut and tomato overnight and the broth thickens further, so you may want a splash of water when you reheat it.
Reheat gently in a saucepan over medium-low, stirring often, since a peanut-thickened stew catches on the bottom of a pot if you rush it. Add water a tablespoon at a time until it loosens back to a spoonable consistency, then finish with a fresh squeeze of lime.
It freezes for three months in flat sealed portions and thaws better than most stews, because there is nothing in it that turns to mush. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stove. The collards will be softer than they were, which nobody has ever complained about.
Notes & Tips
- Press the tofu properly: Fifteen minutes under a weight is not optional. Wet tofu will not brown, and unbrowned tofu crumbles in a stew.
- Fry the tomato paste: A full minute against the hot metal until it turns from red to brick. Raw tomato paste tastes tinny and stays that way.
- Whisk the peanut butter into the tomato first: Peanut butter dropped into broth seizes into lumps that never dissolve. Smooth paste first, liquid second.
- Keep it at a bare simmer: A hard boil splits the peanut fat out and leaves a slick on top. You want lazy bubbles at the edge of the pot.
- Grate the ginger, do not chop it: Grated ginger dissolves into the broth. Chopped pieces stay stringy and turn up whole on somebody's spoon.
- Add the lime off the heat: Boiled citrus goes bitter and dull. The burner is off before the juice goes in.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tofu, peanut butter, sweet potato, and collards each carry a different part of this bowl. The tofu holds the protein and most of the calcium, the peanut butter gives the stew its fat and body, the sweet potato brings the sweetness and soft starch, and the greens keep it from tasting one-note.
- Tofu is soybean curd set with calcium salts, which is why a cubed block brings so much calcium along with a full set of protein. Browning it first changes the texture completely, giving you firm, golden-edged pieces that hold up in the pot.
- Peanut butter is what makes this a groundnut stew, and four spoonfuls thicken the whole pot. It carries mostly unsaturated fat along with plant protein, and it is the reason the broth clings to a spoon.
- Collard greens go in at the end so they keep some bite, and the wide leaves carry calcium along with vitamin K and folate. Their slight bitterness cuts through the sweetness of the sweet potato and gives every bowl a darker note.
- Ginger, garlic, and cayenne build a heat that arrives slowly at the back of the throat, and the lime squeezed in off the burner lifts the whole pot. That combination of sweet, savory, and gently hot is why a bowl this thick still tastes bright.
- As you eat, pay attention to the way the heat builds after a few spoonfuls and how the lime keeps resetting it, and let a bowl this warm be a reason to sit down properly rather than eat fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use natural peanut butter with oil on top?
Yes, and it is what I usually reach for. Stir the jar thoroughly first so you are not scooping straight oil or straight paste. Avoid the sweetened kind, which pushes the stew sugary and fights the cayenne.
What can I use in place of collards?
Kale, mustard greens, or spinach all work. Kale wants the same eight minutes, mustard greens bring their own pepperiness and want six, and spinach needs only a minute or two stirred in at the very end.
My stew tastes flat. What is missing?
Almost always the lime. Acid at the end is what makes a peanut and tomato base taste finished rather than muddy, so start there before reaching for anything else. If it is still flat, another minute of frying the tomato paste next time will give you the depth you are missing.
Will the tofu fall apart?
Not if you press it and brown it first. Pressing drives out the water that makes cubes fragile, and a golden crust holds the sides together through a simmer. Adding the cubes back at the end rather than at the start is the other half of it.