West African peanut stew (maafe)
Maafe is one of West Africa's great comfort dishes — chicken braised until tender, then finished in a rich, deeply savory sauce built on tomato, peanut butter, and warm spices. This version adds sweet potato, eggplant, and a handful of shrimp, a nod to the coastal cooking traditions found alongside the dish's more common inland versions. Serve it the traditional way, over rice with a fiery pili-pili sauce on the side.
Ingredients
Instructions
Cook the yams in a pot of salted water over medium heat until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the peanut oil in a large pot over high heat. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Season with salt and pepper, lower the heat, add half the broth, and let simmer gently while you prepare the sauce.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over high heat. Lower the heat and cook the onions until softened, then add the garlic, tomato sauce, bell pepper, ginger, and thyme.
Stir in the eggplant, cooked yams, shrimp, and peanut butter. Add the remaining broth, stir well, and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Pour this sauce into the pot with the chicken. Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Remove from the heat and serve in a large bowl, with rice and pili-pili sauce alongside.
Notes
Natural, unsweetened peanut butter gives the most authentic flavor and texture; sweetened varieties will throw off the balance of the sauce.
If the sauce gets too thick as it simmers, thin it with a splash more broth or water.
The stew keeps and reheats well, and like most stews, tastes even better the next day.
Variations
The shrimp here is a coastal touch rather than a strict tradition — most West African versions of this dish use only chicken, beef, or lamb, so feel free to leave it out.
Common additions elsewhere in the region include cabbage, okra, carrots, or spinach.
For a vegetarian version, swap the chicken and broth for vegetable broth and chickpeas or extra root vegetables.
Source
This stew belongs to one of West Africa's most widely shared culinary traditions, known by different names depending on the country: maafe or mafé in Senegal, domoda (the national dish) in Gambia, tigadèguèna in Mali, and groundnut soup in Nigeria and Ghana. All share the same foundation — meat, peanut, tomato, and vegetables — with the exact mix shifting from household to household and coast to coast.