In Senegal at the Keur Moussa monastery, a typical meal includes poulet mafé, a thick peanut sauce with chicken, root vegetables, and cabbage served over rice, fonio, or millet couscous. For chef Pierre Thiam, poulet mafé is the ultimate comfort food. His advice: "Be patient when cooking mafé.
Ingreadient
- 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
- Pinch of kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Pinch of black pepper
- 1 pound bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
- 1 pound chicken drumsticks, skin removed
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
- ¼ cup fish sauce (such as Red Boat)
- 7 cups water
- 1 cup unsweetened creamy peanut butter (such as Smucker's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter), well stirred
- 8 ounces green cabbage, cored and cut into 2-inch wedges
- 3 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch-long pieces
- 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 ½ -inch pieces
- 1 medium-size sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 ½ -inch pieces
- Sliced fresh Scotch bonnet chiles, to taste (optional)
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Direction
- Stir together garlic, ginger, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken; press garlic mixture into chicken pieces. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours.
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high until oil shimmers. Add onion; cook, stirring often, until onion starts to become translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and fish sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until combined and tomato paste caramelizes and turns a few shades darker, 6 to 8 minutes. Add 7 cups water, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of Dutch oven. Add chicken and any remaining garlic mixture in bowl to Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium-low.
- Place peanut butter in a medium-size heatproof bowl; stir in 1 1/2 cups liquid from Dutch oven, 1/4 cup at a time, until peanut butter is thinned out and mixture is creamy. Add to mixture in Dutch oven; bring to a vigorous simmer over medium-low. Simmer, undisturbed, 20 minutes.
- Stir cabbage and carrots into mixture in Dutch oven; return to a vigorous simmer over medium-low. Simmer, undisturbed, 10 minutes.
- Stir potato and sweet potato pieces into mixture in Dutch oven; return to a vigorous simmer over medium-low. Simmer, undisturbed, until chicken and vegetables are tender and oil has separated from thickened sauce, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in Scotch bonnet chiles, if using, and season with salt to taste. Serve over rice.
