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AI-generated photograph: Burnt orange groundnut stew in a wide stoneware bowl with sweet potato, aubergine and spinach, beside two smooth white rice balls on a small slate plate

Home · Recipes · Ghanaian groundnut stew with rice balls

West African · Dinner

Ghanaian groundnut stew with rice balls

peanut and tomato broth · sweet potato · rice balls

AI-generated photograph

Nkatenkwan, Ghana's creamy peanut stew, made here with sweet potato, aubergine and spinach in a gently spiced tomato broth, with soft rice balls (omo tuo) on the side.

Contains: peanuts, as written. Peanuts are the only one of the 14 allergens in this recipe, from the peanut butter. Stock cubes can contain celery, so check the packet.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • A thumb-sized piece of ginger (about 20g), grated
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) tomato purée
  • 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 150g smooth peanut butter, with no added sugar
  • 1 litre vegetable stock (2 stock cubes in 1 litre hot water)
  • 1 scotch bonnet chilli, pierced once with a knife and left whole
  • 500g sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
  • 1 aubergine (about 250g), cut into 3cm chunks
  • 1 teaspoon salt, then more to taste
  • 100g spinach
  • To serve: 300g jasmine rice

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Fry the onions for 8 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute.
  2. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for 2 minutes until it darkens. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
  3. Put the peanut butter in a jug and whisk in about 300ml of the hot stock until smooth. Pour it into the pan with the rest of the stock. Add the whole scotch bonnet.
  4. Add the sweet potato, aubergine and salt. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently, partly covered, for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then so it does not stick, until the vegetables are soft and a little red oil shines on top.
  5. Meanwhile make the rice balls. Put the rice in a pan with 700ml water and a pinch of salt, bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes until very soft. Mash it hard in the pan with a wooden spoon or potato masher until sticky and mostly smooth. With wet hands, shape it into 8 balls.
  6. Lift out the scotch bonnet, or squash it into the stew if you like it hot. Stir in the spinach for 1 minute until wilted. Taste and add more salt if needed.
  7. Serve the stew in bowls with the rice balls on a separate plate.

Tips

  • Stir often once the peanut butter is in: it can catch on the bottom of the pan.
  • Cool leftover rice quickly, keep it in the fridge, eat it within a day and reheat it until steaming hot.
  • The stew keeps for 3 days in the fridge and tastes even better the next day.

Swaps

  • With chicken: brown 8 chicken drumsticks first and simmer them in the stew for 40 minutes until cooked through.
  • Hotter: chop the scotch bonnet and add it with the garlic.

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