Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Chick Pea Stew (Peanut Butter style)

I've been asked to share my stew recipe. It is a shame that I just don't know exactly what I did!

So, lets say that I started by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil. That is how I usually begin everything. I was trying to get rid of chick peas. Husband and son say it is "too hard" to make hummus and prefer to buy the stuff. This drives me crazy since it is so easy to make hummus. I empty a giant can of chick peas into the pot grumbling to myself. Probably gave it a stir.

Canned tomatoes chopped up (or squeezed apart as I'm known to do when I'm mumbling about how silly it is to buy hummus) and the juice. Still seemed dry. Can of plain canned tomato sauce. (Made the mistake once of buying canned tomato sauce that had ... stuff... in it. YUCK) Broth that I had (probably beef but could have been chicken of veggie... who knows!). I probably just added some of the "box" thinking I'd save the rest. And, as usual, I slowly added the whole container. Taste. Stir. Let simmer. Taste. Verdict: Bland.

Hmmm jalapeno pepper chopped added some heat. Two giant heaping tablespoons of peanut butter. Stir. Tasting a bit better. Plus it got that nice creamy look and feel. Yummm. After chatting with a friend, chose cinnamon over ginger. Tomato paste to give it a bit more umph. Chopped okra and let it soak in white vinegar and water for a bit - drain and rinse (ALOT) and threw it in. Still need some thing. Found some yellow curry powder so threw that in. Sweet potato peeled and cubed. Maybe more chickpeas because I have so many of them. They love hummus. They eat it by the ton. You'd think they would be interested in making their own!

Cook. Taste. Adjust. Not too bad!

I think the order of the ingrediants needs to be adjusted so that the sweet potatoes cubes cook through. I like my okra to be a bit of a crunch. The chickpeas will fall apart if they are cooked toooo long. The jalapeno and other seasoning probably need to meld in their flavor sooner too.

Ingrediants that I think I used:

Two large cans of Chick Peas (drained)
Two small cans of tomatoes
One can of tomato sauce
Tablespoon of tomato paste
One container of broth (I'm agnostic on the kind)
One jalapeno
One medium yellow onion
Two cloves of garlic (ha, who am I kidding! More like four!)
Three ish tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup or so of smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 medium sweet potato peeled and cubed
Hand full of okra (trimmed and soaked in vinegar/water bath for de-sliming)
Standard salt and pepper to taste if you think it needs it.

Serve with pasta or rice or maybe even over chicken. Or... add chicken for a non vegetarian version(?).