Chicken Mafé

I first heard of this dish from Senegal in the L.A. Times.  They did a vegetarian version of it, which I don't mind in the least, but it didn't seem filling enough on paper.  I decided to add meat to it, which is very common.  The most traditional meats are beef or lamb.  I do have a chuck roast in the freezer, but I haven't decided if I want to corn it, and I didn't want to risk my last pound of lamb on an untried recipe, so I defrosted chicken legs instead.  Chicken and peanut flavor go very well together.

While I love North African food (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, etc), I'm not familiar with Saharan and sub-Saharan dishes.  I've never even been to an Ethiopian restaurant, but I've heard good things.  So off to Wikipedia to learn about Senegal.  Seems like a nice country, and much more temperate than I gave it credit.  They get more rain than Southern California.

The original recipe neglects to mention that you need to use an oven-safe skillet.  I don't have one large enough for this whole recipe, and if my largest skillet was large enough, the handle wouldn't fit in my small oven.  I changed it to a stovetop braise, and it's fantastic.  It does not change the cooking time, and saves you cranking up the oven to 400º on a hot day.

Peanuts are not something I normally stock.  I used two of my grocery rewards to get a pound free.  I'm always happy if I have rewards or a freebie coupon for something that was on my list anyway.  If you prefer, you can use a cup of peanut butter out of the jar instead of making your own for this recipe, but there's something special about freshly ground peanuts.  Maybe open a new jar of the good stuff.  If you're allergic to peanuts but ok with tree nuts, cashews would be a good substitute.  If all nuts are off the menu, maybe use oats, wheat berries, or nutritional yeast, but they won't give the same nutritional equivalent.

You do need this much sauce to braise the meat and cabbage.  This wasn't a problem in the original oven recipe, because it would reduce as it roasted.  You're going to end up with extra unless the mafé is served as a kind of soup.  No problem, I froze the other pint for use later as pasta sauce.  I've made this a lot simpler than the one in the paper.  Pound the cilantro in a mortar and pestle?  I already had the food processor out.  And mine ended up looking a lot like the photo in the article, just with less caramelization of the peanut sauce because I cooked it on the stove.

2 C unsalted peanuts
peanut or vegetable oil as needed (about 1/4 C)
1 large head of green cabbage, cut through the core into 8 wedges
*4 chicken leg quarters
kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
*1 Tb minced fresh ginger
*6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 Tb tomato paste
4 C chicken or vegetable stock, or water
*2 Tb fish sauce (coconut aminos would be a good substitute)
1-1/2 C cilantro leaves & tender stems, chopped
*3 Tb lime juice
2 Tb olive oil

1.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Spread the peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until a shade or two darker and the oils are brought out, about 6-8 minutes.  Stir them frequently.  When cool enough to handle,  run through the processor into a paste.  It's going to take a couple of minutes and goes through several stages: noisy, grainy, clumped ball, paste.  It helps to scrape down the sides when it's transitioning past the grainy phase.  You can do this a few days ahead and store it in the fridge, or use immediately.

2.  Get out the biggest skillet you own, preferably one with a lid.  A wide soup pot also works.  Drizzle about 2 Tb of oil and heat over medium-high until shimmery and coats the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle the cabbage wedges and chicken with salt and pepper and fry in batches until you get a nice char on them.  Turn after about four minutes to do the other side.  Save any leaves of cabbage that fall off; you can add them back in later.  Remove to a side plate.

3.  Add another 2 Tb of oil to the pan and start cooking the onions in it.  Add the fallen shreds of cabbage. Once the onions are softened, about 5 minutes, add the ginger and garlic and continue to cook until the onions are browning.  Stir in the tomato paste and peanut butter and let them soften and caramelize.

4.  Add the stock and fish sauce.  Bring to a simmer and stir until the sauce smoothes out.  It could take a few minutes.  Add the chicken and cabbage wedges to the pan and cram everything in.  Put on a lid, lower heat to medium low, and go make the sauce while the stew simmers for 40-50 minutes.

5.  If you just made the peanut butter, wash the food processor.  For the sauce, add the cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil to the food processor and process until smooth.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  I used white pepper in case there was extra to use as a salad dressing later.

6.  Once the chicken is done and the cabbage is cooked, serve over *couscous or rice with a generous drizzle of cilantro-lime sauce to cut the thickness of the peanut butter.

Difficulty rating  :)