Carla's African Groundnut Soup
"Carla's winning dish from Top Chef All Stars. I love Top Chef, but it's rare to see a vegetarian dish (unless the challenge is to cook for a vegetarian and then all the chefs complain), much less a vegetarian dish that wins. Got the recipe on Bravo's website. I'm putting it here for safekeeping. I have o idea how many this serves or how long it takes, so I guessed."
- Ready In:
- 2hrs
- Ingredients:
- 25
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cumin (ground)
- 1 1⁄4 tablespoons coriander (ground)
- 5 tablespoons chermoula, spice blend
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons peanut oil
- 3 onions, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
- 6 inches piece ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes (fire roasted)
- 4 quarts vegetable stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes
- cold-pressed peanut oil, to toss
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup peanut butter, fresh and unsalted
- 1 lb adzuki beans, cooked in water with 2 bay leaves until tender
- 2 poblano peppers, roasted peeled and diced
- 3 red peppers, roasted peeled and diced
- 10 plum tomatoes, roasted peeled and diced
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch mint
- lime zest, to taste
- 1 cup peanuts, roughly chopped (salted & roasted)
- 1⁄4 cup sea salt
- 1 lime wedge, per serving juiced per serving
directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Heat large pot on high heat. Pour in peanut oil, and then add onions. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, then add garlic and ginger. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until soft and translucent, another 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle in half of spice mixture, salt to taste and stir until mixed well. Pour in crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, stock and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then simmer for at least 1 hour. Strain broth, then puree solids with 2-3 cups of broth until very smooth. Strain through fine strainer.
- While broth is simmering, reserve 2 sweet potatoes for garnish and dice.
- remaining potatoes into 1/4” pieces. Toss in peanut oil, salt and pepper, and roast in 425 degree oven until just tender. Set aside to cool.
- Place peanut butter into medium bowl and slowly whisk in 1-2 cups of broth until mixture is smooth. Pour mixture back into pot with broth.
- Toss together cooked beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, parsley and mint. Season with salt, spice mixture and lime zest to taste.
- In shallow bowl, pour broth, then spoon vegetable mixture into the center.
- Garnish with chopped peanuts, lime juice, lime salt (zest of 2 limes mixed with ¼ cup Malden sea salt), and sweet potato chips. (Cut whole sweet potatoes into ½“ thick pieces. Use peeler to make thin ribbons. Fry in 300 degree canola oil. Salt to taste.).
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Reviews
-
Great dish. I halved the recipe and quartered the spices. I also ran out of time, so threw the potatoes and all fresh veg into a pressure cooker for an hour after the sauce had simmered for an hour. It made a great stew.
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This is delicious, but quite a production! Even though I simplified the steps, I managed to dirty darn near every bowl, casserole dish, and pot that I own. It does make a huge quantity, though, so I was able to freeze half of it to enjoy later. <br/><br/>I simplified this by using jarred roasted red peppers and omitting the poblanos. I used only 3 quarts of vegetable broth. Had no idea what to use as "Chermoula spices" so that was omitted as well. I also skipped the garnish.<br/><br/>But it is delish! Very bold and spicy, just the way I like it.
