Peanut Butter Sauce à la Bangoura, Tigedegena cook-off!

This is how we look after eating lots of peanut butter sauce - one happy family!

March 1-7 was Peace Corps Week and our friend Veronique (Mali RPCV) hosted a peanut butter cook-off to celebrate! As I wrote last week, I'm still honing my West African cooking skills but after this sauce, Abdoulaye thinks I've graduated to be able to take on the sauce alone (almost!). This really is a delicious sauce that anyone who likes peanut butter would enjoy. 

Since I'm a visual learner, here's our recipe in pictures (and words) below: 

Ingredients (amounts are variable!) pictured above and below:
Serves 6-8
Garlic (as you like)
Onion (one will do)
Green onions (three stalks)
Eggplant (1/2 of a medium one)
Potatoes (as many as you like)
Carrots (heavy handful)
Tomatoes (three works!)
Peanut butter (freshly ground, about 1/3 pound here)
Tomato paste (3 oz)
Red pepper flakes to your liking.
Chicken (5 or 6 drumsticks/meat of your choice)
Mustard, salt & pepper - for seasoning chicken and veggies
Vegetable oil (fill the bottom of the pot)
Rice - as much as you need to feed your people!

All your veggies chopped up. 

Eggplant thinly sliced for frying

1. Chop all the veggies (except for eggplant!) and put in bowl. Add red pepper flakes to your liking. 
2. Coat bottom of pot with vegetable oil. Make it hot! Slice eggplant for frying and get to it.
3. Season chicken with mustard, salt & pepper.
4. Fry eggplant and then purée, hold on the side.
5. Fry chicken.
6. Add in all the veggies (including puréed eggplant) & tomato paste and stir around. 
7. Cover for 10 minutes to get the juices going. The veggies should provide enough liquid for things to not burn.
8. Add hot water to peanut butter (maybe two or three cups). Stir and let 'rest' so nubby pieces fall to the bottom. You don't want a grainy sauce!
9. Add in peanut butter water. Keep adding hot water to the peanut butter 'sediment' to shake out the real peanut butter while leaving the gritty parts on the bottom. Add enough water to the pot to cover your sauce ingredients. Cover and stir every now and again!

This much peanut butter

Add hot water and let peanut butter 'rest'

Stir to shake up the peanut butter. You want the little nubs in the middle (hypocotyls and radicles!) to sink to the bottom

Chicken seasoned with mustard, salt and pepper. 

After frying eggplant, blend!

Mmm, pureed eggplant.

Uninterested baby still in her nightgown nearby helps keep the kitchen cute. 

Those are some good names.

Make sure to add a room full of hungry RPCVs and partners! Everyone is excited to try all the sauces! 

Here's my plate with all the sauces and the voting mechanism behind (put a bean in the cup with your favorite sauce's name)

 **If you're looking for another great recipe, Cassie has a fantastic how-to for peanut butter sauce on her blog from when she was in Mali.