Simple ingredients come together in this wonderfully flavorful Peanut Chicken Stew – a perfect example of West African comfort food at its best!
It’s been over 15 years since my friend, Bobson, first made this dish for me in Germany. A refugee from war-torn Sierra Leone, Bobson was a young man in his late 20’s trying to make a new life for himself. He had never gone to school or learned how to read but he possessed a depth of wisdom that drew respect from those who knew him. Friendly and out-going with a winning smile and a great sense of humor, Bobson was also kind-hearted and generous with what little he had.
He invited me and a couple of friends over for a traditional dish from Sierra Leone. After the first bite I was hooked. He served it with something he called pounded yam (aka “fufu”), a thick, starchy neutral-tasting substance that’s ground and then reconstituted with water. You pull off a wad of it and make an indentation with your thumb to serve as an eating utensil to scoop up the food and mop up sauce.
The next time he invited us for dinner the unanimous request was that he make that same dish. This time I watched him make it. And that’s the dish I’m sharing with you today: Bobson’s version of Sierra Leonean plasas.
The scenic road from Kenema to the Kailahun district in Sierra Leone.
This dish is simply called plasas or sometimes also referred to as palava sauce or palaver sauce. It doesn’t refer to a specific recipe so much as a specific kind of dish: Plasas is a sauce comprised of some type of greens (either spinach, collard greens, kale, etc), some kind of meat, peanut butter for flavor and thickening, and often dried fish. It’s commonly served with some kind of starchy side dish.
Simple ingredients come together to produce a BIG flavor in this delicious saucy stew. Chicken, peanuts, tomatoes, greens and seasonings are showcased in this winning dish that will leave you licking your fingers.
A wonderfully satisfying meal, this Peanut Chicken Stew is a perfect example of West African comfort food at its best!
Let’s get started!
Heat some oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven until very hot. Generously brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Remove the chicken. In the same pot cook the onions until caramelized. Add all remaining ingredients.
Bring the sauce to a simmer and stir until the peanut butter is fully incorporated. Add the chicken pieces, nestling them in the sauce. Cover and simmer for at least an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.
This stew is perfect for leftovers because it tastes even better the next day after the flavors have had time meld.
Serve with steamed rice or African fufu and your choice of vegetables and a leafy green salad.
Enjoy!
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West African Peanut Chicken Stew (Plasas)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2-2 pounds bone-in and skin-on chicken pieces (alternatively, beef is also commonly used)
- Palm or coconut oil for frying
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- 1 6 ounce can tomato paste ,not tomato sauce
- 1 10- ounce package frozen spinach ,fully thawed and drained
- 1/3 cup unsweetened peanut butter
- 3 Maggie or Knorr tomato bouillon cubes (a popular ingredient in West African cooking)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup strong chicken broth
- Optional: For some heat add some red chilis or hot sauce
Instructions
- Heat some oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven until very hot. Generously brown the chicken pieces on all sides (crucial for the flavor of the sauce). Remove the chicken.
- In the same pot, add some more oil and cook the onions until caramelized. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, stirring until the peanut butter is fully incorporated. Return the chicken to the sauce, nestling it in the sauce. Cover and simmer over low for at least one hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with steamed rice or African fufu (see blog post for explanation).
- **This dish tastes even better the next day after the flavors have had more time to meld.
Sierra Leone photo courtesy Lindsay Stark via Flickr
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jeff says
Looks like a Great recipe but it seems like 1lb of chicken is on light side for this dish. The picture shows several pieces of chicken which have be more like two pounds of chicken.
Thanks for the recipe!
Iris Kebbeh says
My husband is Gambian, and I’ve vizitsd Gambia and Senegal MANY times so I cook a lot of West African dishes. Plasas is made with some some sort of leaves – cassava, kale or collards with okra. Domoda is usually the peanut butter stew and it’s usually without greens – it may have other vegetables such as bitter tomato, squash, cassava, chicken or some other meat, garden egg (eggplant), potato. It’s never used with ground nuts (peanuts) that aren’t ground into a paste.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Iris, as with most dishes regional variations are bound to exist. If you Google “plasas” you’ll find that it’s made with peanuts in multiple regions including the Congo (see CongoCookbook.com) and even the Gambian information website (AccessGambia.com) features plasas with peanut butter. See also Afrotourism.com and Africanbites.com and many more examples of plasas made with peanut butter.
Iris says
You are right. Regional ingredients/names for dishes do vary and I apologize for coming on to your site and challenging your dish. I would hate if someone did that to me.
Demeter says
What an amazing man! How awesome that you got the chance to meet him and learn this fantastic dish from him.
Sabrina says
Such a flavorful dish! I know it’ll quickly become a regular meal in our house.
Mary Walton says
I made it vegetarian by replacing the chicken with garbanzo beans and chicken broth with vegetable. Eat over rice.Perfect!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Mary, thank you!
Dee says
I’ve never had anything like this before, but this looks so good! Very simple, I think I’ll try this out
Mahy Elamin says
What a hearty sounding stew! Pinning this to try once the holidays are over and we are needing some dinner inspiration!
Chrissie Baker says
I don’t think I’ve had African food before but this looks so flavorful and comforting! I’m definitely going to try this stew. Looks amazing!
Colleen says
I made this in my Instant Pot it was delicious,and my husband said that he approved
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, Colleen, thanks so much!
Sandra says
I love it! Packed full of amazing flavors!
catherine says
I made this dish a few days ago. I found it too intense in tomatoes for my taste, so I added a can of low fat coconut milk and added already cubed and roasted butternut squash at the end as well. That mellowed it out and we liked it a lot better. I suppose in Gambia this dish enjoys many variations. It’s lovely delicious and very pretty on the plate.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Catherine, I’m glad you enjoyed it and were able to adapt it to your taste, thanks for the feedback!