Mafé — West African Peanut Stew

Ingredients

• 2 lb Chicken Thighs
• ⅔ cup natural peanut butter
• 1 large Sweet Potato, chunked
• 1 onion + 4 cloves garlic + 1 tbsp ginger
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 3 cups stock
• 1 scotch bonnet, whole (flavor, not fury, if unpierced)
• 2 tbsp oil
• Rice, to serve

Method

1. Brown the Chicken Thighs in the oil; set aside. Soften the onion, garlic, and ginger in the drippings.
2. Fry the tomato paste 2 minutes until brick-dark, then add the tomatoes and stock.
3. Whisk in the peanut butter until the broth turns café-au-lait and silky — the moment mafé becomes mafé.
4. Return the Chicken Thighs with the Sweet Potato and the whole scotch bonnet. Simmer gently, uncovered, 30–35 minutes, stirring so the peanut base doesn't catch, until thick and the oil beads on top — the West African doneness signal.
5. Remove the bonnet, season, and serve over rice. Senegal's gift to cold evenings everywhere; leftovers achieve legend status overnight.