MAAFE

WEST AFRICAN PEANUT TOMATO SOUP

Maafe

                                                photo GBC all rights reserved

Maafe (var. mafé, maffé, maffe, sauce d'arachide (French), tigadèguèna or tigadenena (Bamana; literally 'peanut butter sauce'), or groundnut stew, is a stew or sauce (depending on water content) common to much of West Africa. It originates from the Mandinka and Bambara people of Mali.^[1]Variants of the dish appear in the cuisine of nations throughout West Africa 

INGREDIENTS

  

3 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 small red onion, chopped

1 small Chopped whole tomato

1 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup canned chick peas - drained

1/2 cup fresh ground peanut butter [smooth]

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 healthy tsp cumin

Hot sauce [to taste]

1/4 cup roughly chopped peanuts, for garnish

1 scallion thinly sliced for garnish [white end only] 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium Dutch oven or stock pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the red onion, ginger, garlic and chick peas. Cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Using a submersible blender, blend until smooth.
2. In a medium-sized, heat-safe mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, chopped tomato and tomato paste, then transfer 1 cup of the hot stock to the bowl.  
3. Pour the peanut mixture back into the soup and mix well. The soup should be thick and creamy. Season the soup with cumin and hot sauce to taste. Simmer for about 15 more minutes on medium-low heat, stirring often.

Got Key Lime Pie

Living in Florida is its own reward, sun and surf, beautiful sunsets, bikinis and, as if that weren't enough, now and then a delight for the palate. I'm speaking, of course, about Key Lime Pie that rare combination of citrus from tiny, tart Key limes and the silk-smooth, creamy richness of sweetened condensed milk.

Each year hoards of tourists arrive in Florida and devour hundreds of tons of this amazingly simple but oh so tropical dessert. The dessert is made easily, by combining a couple of cans of sweetened condensed milk with eggs and the juice of a dozen or so Key limes. Pour into a graham cracker crust and refrigerate for several hours. Serve with mounds of sweet whipped cream.

So we set about to create a traditional yet vegan Key Lime Pie

Turns out the question arises, what is sweetened condensed milk and moreover why does it exist? Useful, of course, for many desserts sweetened condensed milk doesn't seem to have any other purpose. So we did a little digging.

In 1856 Gail Borden a tinkerer and inventor submitted his patent for Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. By extracting the water from whole milk and replacing it with sugar Borden was able to preserve canned milk and thus make it portable in a world without refrigeration. Milk spoils in hours left unrefrigerated and "milk disease" in the mid 1800s was a serious public health issue. With Borden's invention mothers could now send canned milk to school with their children and city folk could count on safe milk for their meals far away from the source, the dairy farm.

Diseases and illness related to milk products are historically so prolific that whole societies have created laws to govern the consumption of milk. Kosher law strictly forbids serving milk and dairy together or even sharing food vessels and utensils for fear of cross contamination.

Lactose intolerance is considered by many as the single most widespread allergy in the world today. Many countries have banned the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone or rBGH, which is used in cows to accelerate their growth, citing insufficient research concerning the impact on human consumers.

Finally, in the early 21st century milk has come under suspicion by UK researchers as a likely vector for Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria the principle causal element in Crohn's disease, the human equivalent of "Mad Cow."

Dawn of the burger

Well, tomorrow is the big day and here at Rick's Place we have our grills, (gas and charcoal) ready to fire up; just waiting for the Dawn of the BBB contest finals tomorrow in Napa Valley - we love the smell of NAPA in the morning, it smells like victory.

So get ready to light your fires and we'll keep you on the "ground round" with good burgers, good wine and good eats all weekend. Live from Sutter Homes Build a Better Burger Cook-off it's Here's Cooking at You, Kids' coverage of the Best Burger in America finals.

Check out Colleen's blog coverage from the event and send us your best burger picks/suggestions, maybe yours will be next years "classic" at Rick's Place.

Gentlemen & ladies, start your grills.

Here's cooking at you, Kid, Rick