Malian Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

• •1/2 cup oil
• •1 large onion
• •2 cloves garlic
• •Chicken
• •1 to 2 cans tomatoes
• •1/2 large green cabbage
• •2 potatoes
• •1 medium-sized eggplant
• •Enough water to cover vegetables
• •2 to 3 bay leaves
• •Salt
• •Pepper
• •Hot sauce or pimentos (chili peppers)
• •1 350 milliliter container peanut paste

Directions

1. 1Get a large pot and heat up the 1/2 of the oil and then add the chopped onion and garlic. Let brown for 2 minutes or so and then add the chicken, which should be chopped into cubes. Let the chicken brown as well.
2. 2Add the tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, bay leaves, salt, pepper, hot sauce (or pimentos) and enough water into the pot to cover all the vegetables with water. Add Eggplant if desired. Let the vegetables simmer for about an hour, stirring regularly, covering the pot, and leaving it at medium heat. Add water if necessary as it evaporates. The consistency should be fairly thick.
3. 3Add the peanut paste and stir it in well so that the liquid is consistent throughout. The peanut paste should thicken the sauce. Let it cook for about 10 minutes on medium with the peanut paste. Serve over rice, millet, sorghum, or couscous.
4. 4In Mali, often the hot peppers (pimentos) are left whole, and if the person eating the sauce chooses, she/he can open up the hot pepper and dab it on the food, making it spicy hot.