Mafé Recipes

SENEGALESE MAFE

Steps:

• Season chicken and brown in oil in a large heavy pot. Add onions and tomatoes. In separate pot heat chicken stock and whisk in tomato paste. Thin peanut butter slightly with hot liquid and add all liquids to pot with chicken. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Add vegetables and cook until chicken and vegetables are tender, approximately 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt, cayenne and ground white pepper. Garnish with peanuts.

LAMB-SHOULDER MAFE WITH FONIO

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with 1 tablespoon of salt, and brown in batches until all the meat is browned. Set aside the meat, and pour off excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pot.
• Add onion, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook until it turns translucent. Reduce heat to low, then add garlic, and stir well. Cook for a minute or 2, until it is fragrant, then add tomato paste, and cook for 7 more minutes, until the paste is dark in color. If the mixture begins to brown too quickly, lower the heat, and add a splash of water to deglaze the pan. Return the meat to the pot, add stock to cover meat and bring to a simmer. Add bay leaves, thyme and remaining salt, and cover. Cook for 2 hours on low heat, or until the meat is very tender.
• Prepare the parsley topping: Combine the parsley, scallions, garlic, Scotch bonnet and lemon zest in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste, cover and refrigerate until it's time to serve.
• Start the fonio: Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, and cook until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and carrot, and cook for 3 minutes more, until the garlic is fragrant. Add 1/4 cup water along with the peas, and cook covered, on low heat, until the carrot is tender, about 8 minutes, then turn off the heat, and set aside until you're ready to eat.
• Finish the mafe: In a large bowl, gradually add a little hot liquid from the lamb to the peanut butter, mixing it with more and more liquid until it's thick, smooth and pourable. Return it all to the pot with the meat, and mix well. Add the okra, Scotch bonnet and fish sauce, and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or so, stirring frequently to avoid clumps of peanut butter at the bottom of the pot, until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon and a little bit of fat has pooled at the top.
• Cook the fonio: In a pot with a tightly fitted lid, bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil, add the fonio, stir, cover and turn off the heat. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff with a fork. Fold fonio into the shallots and peas, season and taste. To serve, pile bowls with fonio, top with lamb and generously sprinkle over the parsley.

MAFE TIGA BANTU

Steps:

• Combine the quarters of 1 of the onions, 2 of the garlic cloves, the parsley leaves, 1 teaspoon sea salt and freshly ground pepper in a mortar and pestle or a food processor and muddle or pulse to chop until all the ingredients have processed into a green mush, about 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
• Working in batches if necessary, place the snapper in the same mortar or food processor used for the parsley. Use the pestle to pound the fish or the food processor to pulse the fish to a malleable texture. Add the fish to the bowl with the parsley mixture and mix well using your hands. Using a tablespoon, form the mixture into round balls called "bantu" and set aside.
• Rinse the mortar and pestle or food processor and add the remaining onion quarters, garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons salt and the green and red bell peppers and muddle until the ingredients are crushed, about 3 minutes in a mortar and pestle or 20 seconds in a food processor. This is called "knokoss." Place in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a 4-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Fry the bantu in batches until browned, about 2 minutes per side. When all the bantu has been browned, transfer to a medium bowl or plate and set aside.
• Saute the knokoss in the same Dutch oven until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and bouillon seasoning and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in 8 cups water and the bay leaf, bring to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes.
• Stir in the peanut butter until fully incorporated; the stew should turn a beige color and start to thicken. Stir until the stew starts to boil, then cover and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring gently every 10 minutes.
• Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, and Scotch bonnet chile. Check for seasoning; if more salt is required add the soy sauce. Give it a big stir, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Carefully add the bantu and reduce the heat to low. Cover and let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes; the stew is done when a reddish peanut oil appears on top of the surface. Do not stir the oil to incorporate, simply turn off the stew and carefully remove the Scotch bonnet.
• Serve over rice or foufou.

MAFE (PEANUT BUTTER STEW)

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan, add the onion, and cook over medium heat until it is translucent. Add the meat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned on all sides.
• In a small bowl, mix the peanut butter with the cold water and pour it over the meat. Dilute the tomato paste with the hot water, pour the liquid over the stew, and stir well to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the remaining ingredients, lower the heat, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Serve hot over white rice.

MAFE (SENEGALESE BEEF STEW)

Steps:

• Whisk together peanut butter and stock and reserve.
• Season the meat with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
• Brown the meat well on all sides; do not crowd the meat; saute in batches if necessary.
• Remove meat and keep warm.
• Add the onion, garlic, peppers, and carrots to the pan and saute until the onions are translucent.
• Add the peanut butter and broth mixture, scraping all the brown bits up from the bottom and sides of the pan.
• Return the reserved meat (and any juices) to the pan with the tomatoes and their liquid, the thyme and bay leaf.
• Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, for about 1 hour or until the meat is tender.
• Taste for seasoning.
• Remove the thyme sprig and the bay leaf and discard.
• Serve hot over rice.

CHICKEN MAFE

Steps:

• Finely mince 6 cloves garlic and the ginger with a pinch of salt, plenty of black pepper and crushed red-pepper flakes to taste. Season chicken all over with salt, and rub with the garlic mixture. Marinate for three hours or overnight, refrigerated.
• Finely chop the remaining 6 cloves of garlic. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the onion, chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the onion is starting to become translucent. Stir in the fish sauce, then the tomato paste, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the paste and onions have combined and are a shade darker. Stir in 6 cups water, scraping up any browned bits.
• Add the chicken, bring to a boil and turn heat down to a moderate simmer. In a mixing bowl, stir a cup of the cooking liquid into the peanut butter, a splash at a time, to loosen it. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots, and simmer 10 minutes. Peel and cut the sweet potato and waxy potatoes into 1 1/2-inch chunks, add them and simmer 30 minutes, until the vegetables and chicken are tender and the sauce is like a very thick gravy. (The oil will be separating in the sauce.) If the chicken and vegetables are tender but the sauce is still a little loose, remove them, and let the sauce cook down. Add the chile if using. Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and serve over white rice.