Spicy Peanut Soup

— Eating on the Floor, No. 1 —

 

∞ I’m glad you decided to come, and I’m sorry that the soup is old. Though sometimes an old soup is loads better than one that’s just been born. I hope I’m aging like that. Don’t you? Like a soup, and not like a baguette.

It’s cold today, and the grey sun is trapped behind an unbroken veil of clouds. It’s only one cloud really, but it’s been smashed flat enough to cover the sky top-to-bottom, as well as side-to-side. And it’s been horribly damp, for days and days. That’s why I made the soup. 

I’m glad you came. I know I said that before. But I want you to believe me.

–EB

Read more from Eating on the Floor…

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A SPICY PEANUT SOUP, for cold days. Or other days too if you happen to like spicy foods. Like Wednesdays. A Wednesday would be a perfectly good day to make this soup.

 

This soup is a rich and delicious feast in a bowl, and it’s fairly quick to pull together. If you’re extra short on time, skip the roasted okra and top your soup with kefir and plenty of chopped green onion—Unless you want to kiss someone after eating this. If you want to kiss someone AND you are short on time…umm…Let me think. Okay, still make the soup, and then throw some chopped cilantro on at the end. Everybody loves cilantro. This recipe makes a lot of soup so don’t be timid with the size of your pot. And it will only get better after a night or two in the fridge, if you find yourself with leftovers.

 

Ingredients:

1 fairly sizable onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon berbere (a mixture of spices, common in Ethiopian cooking)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 big cloves of garlic, grated

1 1/2 inch long piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2-3 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)

4 cups of vegetable stock

———

1 large (28oz.) can of crushed tomatoes – fire roasted ones taste best, if you can find them.

1 cup of peanut butter – if your grocery store offers a peanut butter you can grind yourself, get that. The texture is awesome in this soup. If not, a regular creamy peanut butter is perfect.

——— optional

1 lb. fresh okra, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

plain kefir

 

Preheat your oven to 400°.

Over medium heat, in a large pot, sauté the onions in the oil until they are translucent. Stir in the berbere and cayenne. Grate in the garlic and ginger. Then add the carrot and sauté a few minutes more. Throw in the sweet potatoes and the stock, and bring the pot to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes – until the vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.

Using an immersion blender (or by transferring in batches to a regular blender) purée the vegetables with the cooking liquid. (My friend Holly, an excellent cook, accomplishes this step using a potato masher, which makes for a delightfully chunky texture.) Stir in the crushed tomatoes, and blend or mash a bit more until the consistency is to your liking. Bring the soup back to a simmer, then turn off the heat and stir in the peanut butter. Salt to taste.

To top your soup:

Place the okra in a baking dish in a single layer. Drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with salt.

Roast at 400°, about 18 min. The okra should be fork tender but still green.

Drizzle each bowl of soup with a tablespoon(ish) of plain kefir, and top with the  okra.

 

*This recipe came to me via my step-mother-in-law, Phoebe, when she passed along her copy of Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant by the Moosewood Collective to me, a number of years ago now. A version of this recipe appears in that excellent cookbook, under the title; West African Peanut Soup.