Week 39 - Stew

I love making stew, so the biggest problem with Week 39 was figuring out which stew to make for the challenge. I wanted to do something completely different from the ones I'd done before, so as soon as I saw this African peanut stew on Budget Bytes, I knew that was the one. A few modifications to fit the ingredients we had and/or could get, and we would be good to go!

For the stew, I used:

- 1 tbsp olive oil ($0.20)

- 4 large garlic cloves, minced ($0.10)

- 1-2 inches of ginger, minced ($0.15)

- 1 large onion, diced ($0.75)

- 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced ($0.98)

- cumin to taste (a few tsp) ($0.05)

- red pepper flakes to taste (a tsp or so) ($0.05)

- 1 can of chicken breast ($1)

- 1 can of diced tomatoes ($0.75)

- 6 oz can of tomato paste (free - from mom's pantry clean-out)

- 1/2 cup of natural creamy peanut butter ($0.70)

- 6 cups of water ($0)

- 3 heaping spoonfuls of chicken bouillon ($0.90)

- 16 oz bag of Southern greens, chopped ($3.49)

- 1/3 bunch of cilantro ($0.60)

A big pot of stew for $9.72, which made dinner as well as a few lunches, was definitely a great deal. Even if I paid for the tomato paste myself, it would be just above $10. That's almost double what her recipe came out to on Budget Bytes, but I did add chicken, the greens were way more expensive, and well, NYC grocery prices. That's usually the culprit.

The process for making this stew is really easy. Mince the garlic and ginger and then saute until garlic is soft. Add the onion, saute. Add the sweet potato, saute. Add the chicken and diced tomatoes, along with the cumin and red pepper flakes. After the onion and sweet potato are softer and translucent, add the tomato paste, peanut butter, and mix it all together. It will be thick and stuck together like the stuff in the pot above.

Once everything is mixed up, add the water and bouillon. Turn heat up to high and cover the pot so it comes to a boil. During all that, chop and add the greens. (Yes, for me, this meant taking the lid on and off but I think the cover is really just to get it to boil faster.) Once the stew is boiling, turn heat to low and simmer for at least 15 minutes (uncovered). Mash some of the soft sweet potatoes on the side of the pot. Once it's done, add cilantro to the bowls. Very easy stew! I pretty much followed the directions in the recipe other than adding chicken and tomatoes when I thought they might work.

This stew was really good and filled with healthy ingredients. We really liked it. The only criticism would be that the peanut flavor wasn't as strong as either of us thought it would be. Perhaps I needed to use more peanut butter or maybe the creamy peanut butter didn't come through as much as the crunchy would or maybe it was TJ's peanut butter compared to another brand. Whatever it was, I think I'd just use more peanut butter next time. But this stew was hearty, warming (of course I made it on the warmest day of the week, but whatever), and comforting. This was really easy, and I would definitely make this again.