Find out how to make mafé, a wealthy and nutty mom sauce of Senegalese delicacies

Get the recipe: Root Vegetable Mafé

So, as quickly as I noticed Thiam’s new cookbook, “Merely West African,” I flipped on to the glossary to see if mafé was listed. Certainly, it was, and I occurred to have nearly every thing available to make his recipe for Root Vegetable Mafé.

“Utilizing nuts and seeds to construct sauces and stews is seen all throughout West Africa,” Thiam writes, noting that “many who come from West Africa or have frolicked there have cravings for (mafé) on a constant foundation due to its signature nuttiness and wealthy consistency.”

It’s additionally a private favourite of his. “The scent of mafé immediately takes me again to my childhood,” Thiam writes. “The peanut-based sauce, additionally one of many mom sauces of West African delicacies, has some similarities with Mexican mole in that it’s a nut-based sauce thickened by means of sluggish cooking.”

For Thiam’s recipe, you begin by cooking onions and garlic in somewhat oil till they soften. Tomato paste goes in subsequent, and also you stir that — including splashes of water to maintain it from scorching — till every thing darkens to a deep maple brown. An entire lot of creamy, unsweetened peanut butter goes in subsequent. Let that soften for just a few seconds, after which deglaze the underside of the pot with vegetable broth or water. Add a bay leaf and, in the event you like your meals spicy, a complete Scotch bonnet chile. Now, stir properly, to permit the peanut butter to soften into the broth. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and let it simmer for some time. You’ll comprehend it’s prepared when small swimming pools of oil rise to the floor. Style it, and modify the seasonings to your liking.

“The traditional West African mafé nearly at all times has lamb, hen or fish, however I really like the simplicity and class of the vegan model that I am introducing right here,” Thiam writes. His recipe suggests cassava, carrots, candy potatoes and turnips. You chop the greens into roughly equal-size items after which boil them till they’re simply fork-tender, however not falling aside. Then, you immerse them within the sauce, letting them simmer in its luxurious texture till they’re all delicate sufficient to eat with a spoon.

I didn’t have any cassava after I made it, so I used a russet potato as a substitute. Be at liberty to make use of any greens you’d like. Then, serve it with loads of fonio or rice, for absorbing each great, nutty bit.

Get the recipe: Root Vegetable Mafé