Ebenezer's All-Powerful Peanut Soup
As Ebenezer Akakpo, from Ada, Ghana, taught Lindsay Sterling in Yarmouth, ME, April 2011
Serves 8
Active time: 2.5 hours
5 habanero peppers
9 beef bouillion cubes (he used Maggi brand, common in Africa)
31 peeled garlic cloves (about 2 1/2 heads!)
1 red onion, cut into big wedges
handful fresh basil leaves
4 inches peeled ginger root, cut into chunks
Throw all the above ingredients into a blender and fill the blender a couple inches from the top with water. Blend. Strain liquid puree into a large soup pot. Put strained mash back into blender, refill with water, blend and strain into soup pot again. Do this one more time so you have a big soup pot 3/4 full with flavored, strained water. You can squeeze out the strained mash for every drip of flavor goodness with your hands. Don't bother washing the blender, you'll use it again. Add these next ingredients to the pot:
9 bouillon cubes
any smoked product (he used pork hocks, but said he'd also use fish)
2 lb whole cock (any chicken will do, cut into pieces, bones-in)
Next, you're going to do a couple things to the ingredients below. Mark an x in the bottom of the three tomatoes, cover with water in a small pot, and boil for a couple minutes until the skins loosen. Remove from water, peel off skins, blend in the blender, and add to soup pot along with tomato paste. Now blend in the blender: peanut butter, yellow onion, and water to fill the blender half-way. Pour mixture into a small pot on medium. Cook stirring for about 20 minutes until a spoon swiped on the bottom leaves a trail in the bottom of the pot and if you look closely the oils begin to separate. Add to the soup, along with mushrooms. When mushrooms (and chicken of course!) are cooked, soup's done!
3 tomatoes
1/4 c tomato paste
1 1/2 cups unsweetened peanut butter
1 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1 pack mushrooms, cut in half
Note: This soup stores wonderfully in the freezer. Great to have on hand. Serve with fou fou, or instant polenta.
Ghanaian Fou Fou
pre-cooked corn flour
yam powder
water
(instructions coming soon)
copyright Lindsay Sterling 2011
