If you love hearty yet nourishing comfort-food, say hello to this Gambian Peanut Stew!
This nourishing one-pot stew is packed with aromatics and spices, will keep you satiated for hours, and pulls off one of my favorite culinary magic tricks: it tastes indulgent while being made with wholesome ingredients (plus vegan, gluten-free, and soy-free!). This is flavor-rich comfort food at its absolute finest. 😍
Please note: I originally titled this recipe Vegan West African Peanut Stew, but after doing more research on the various differences across West African peanut stews, I came to identify my particular recipe as being most influenced by Gambian Peanut Stew, aka domoda.
What’s a West African Peanut Stew?
Peanut stews are common in West African countries, including Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, and The Gambia, with variations abounding throughout the region and across ethnic groups. They are often referred to as “groundnut” stews or soups, as “groundnut” is the more traditional term for peanut in this region.
This recipe most closely resembles the national dish of The Gambia, a peanut stew called domoda. You’ll find both vegetarian and meat versions, though the vegetarian version is quite common because meat can be expensive.
It usually contains roasted peanuts crushed or blended into a paste, tomatoes and/or tomato sauce, chili peppers, and a vegetable such as sweet potatoes, carrots, or pumpkin.
This recipe uses unsweetened, natural peanut butter for a shortcut, and while it might sound odd at first glance to add peanut butter to a stew, it blends effortlessly and lends a creamy, nutty richness you’ll adore.
Want to learn more about groundnut soups from West Africa? Check out this post from Gwafu Vegan or read more here.
Ingredients
- Peanut butter. Be sure to use a variety with no added sugar. The best options are made with just peanuts and salt.
- White beans. Many Westernized vegetarian versions of this recipe do not contain a dedicated protein source. I added white beans in my take on this dish—they add extra protein and fiber, as well as extra creaminess!
- Aromatics. Starting this recipe with sautéing aromatics (onions, garlic, ginger, and jalapeño peppers) helps build layers of flavors. Often, West African peanut stews are made with habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers, but I opted for jalapeño peppers because they’re more widely available.
- Sweet potatoes. The finely diced sweet potatoes are key in this dish, as they help balance the spices and acidity. And the longer you cook the stew, the more the sweet potatoes will fall apart, virtually melting into the stew so you get a luscious, velvety texture.
- Kale. For added nutrition! Just toss it in towards the end of cooking and let it wilt. It’s a far easier way to get in your greens than chomping on a kale salad!
Substitutes + Swaps
- Peanut Butter: Peanut allergy? Try cashew butter, almond butter, or sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option (use an unsweetened variety like so). To make this more traditionally, buy whole raw peanuts and roast them yourself, then blend into a creamy paste with water (check out the instructions in this recipe).
- Want to make it spicy? Feel free to go traditional and use Scotch bonnet or habanero pepper. Or, for just a little more heat, replace the jalapeño with a serrano pepper.
- Not a kale fan? Try another green, like thinly sliced collard greens, or Swiss chard. I find spinach wilts a bit too much for my preference, but if you like it, go for it!
Step-by-step instructions
- Heat up the coconut oil in a Dutch oven or deep sauté pan.
Saute the diced onions in coconut oil until just starting to brown.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeños and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the tomato paste, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper.
- Incorporate the tomato paste and spices into the onions and stir frequently for 2 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan with the vegetable broth. Add the white beans, crushed tomatoes, thyme, sweet potatoes, and peanut butter.
- Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer for 20-25 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.
- Add the kale and cook for 3-5 minutes until wilted.
- Finish the stew with cilantro and lemon juice and season to taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
This stew is hearty enough on its own, but to stretch out your meal (and budget) and make it heartier, serve it over a grain like white rice, brown rice, millet, quinoa, or any favorite grain of yours. If you have access to fonio (a type of millet from West Africa), give that a try!
I actually have a version of this recipe in my cookbook, The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook (and it’s a reader favorite!).
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-6 days. Store the stew without any rice/grains as the rice tends to harden. The stew also freezes well—you can freeze it for 3 to 4 months. Defrost in the fridge before warming up for the best texture.
I prefer to reheat most leftovers on the stove in a saucepan, but the microwave also works fine.
More nourishing vegan stews
- Vegan Tagine with Chickpeas
- Creamy Mushroom and Black Beluga Lentil Stew
- Tuscan Stewed Beans
- Braised Indian Chickpea Stew
If you cozy up with a bowl of this Gambian Peanut Stew, I’d love to hear about it 😊 Leave a rating and review below and let me know what you think!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Vegan Gambian Peanut Stew (Domoda)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (use refined for a neutral flavor)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
- 1-2 jalapeño peppers, diced (see Note 1)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 4 cups (945 mL) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 small handful of fresh thyme sprigs (see Note 2)
- 1 pound (454g) sweet potatoes, peeled and finely diced (see Note 3)
- ½ cup (128g) creamy peanut butter (no sugar added)
- 1 (15-ounce/425g) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (28-ounce/800g) can crushed tomatoes
- 5 cups (90-100g) chopped kale
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (or lime juice)
- ½ cup (8g) cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped
For serving (optional)
- white rice, brown rice, millet, quinoa, or fonio
Instructions
- Heat a large, deep sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the coconut oil, and once it's shimmering, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are just starting to brown around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeño peppers. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
- Add in the tomato paste, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, and a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper. Stir frequently and vigorously for 2 minutes, incorporating the tomato paste and spices into the onions. Add a few splashes of water to prevent the spices from drying out or burning.
- Pour in the vegetable broth, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the thyme sprigs, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, drained and rinsed white beans, and crushed tomatoes. Stir well to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low or medium-low to maintain a rapid simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender, stirring occasionally.
- Optional step: The stew should be quite thick by now, but if you want it to be even thicker and creamier, run an immersion blender through half of the stew (don’t blend it all – you want to retain some texture).
- Add the chopped kale and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until wilted. If desired, use a fork to smash the sweet potatoes to further thicken the stew.
- Stir in the lemon or lime juice and cilantro. Season to taste, adding more salt as needed. Serve plain, or on top your favorite grain.
Video
Notes
- If you’re very sensitive to spicy food, use just 1 jalapeño pepper and remove the seeds and membranes, where most of the heat lives. But if you can handle the heat, leave the seeds in. Really love spicy food? Feel free to use a habanero or Scotch bonnet pepper (the seeds are very spicy so I recommend removing them).
- You can substitute fresh thyme with 1 teaspoon dried thyme. Just add it to the Spice Blend.
- To ensure the sweet potatoes cook through in the time allotted, be sure to finely dice them. If not finely diced, it will take longer for the stew to cook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
This was SOOOOOO good!!!! I skipped the greens because I was all out! But wow, I’ve been eating it non-stop since I made it yesterday!! Definitely a keeper!
Hey Traci! Wow, I can feel your enthusiasm about this recipe through the screen! Love it!
Absolutely delicious! This is going to be a regular in my meal prep rotation. Even my teenagers loved it! Thank you so much!
Thanks for the lovely feedback, Kate! That makes us very happy to hear!
Loved this recipe! Can I freeze portions for another day?
Hi Maddie, we’re so happy you do! 🙂 Yes you definitely can! We recommend storing them in souper cubes 🙂 Cheers!
My friend and I recently made this dish as part of our weekly virtual cooking club!! It was so amazing w/ some coconut rice and made my whole kitchen smell amazing!
Heema, That’s so awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing!
How many grams of cilantro do I need to use? Cups aren’t used where I am from and I have been looking up how many grams it should be but I’ve got so many different answers on different sites 😞
Hi John, 1/2 cup of cilantro is about 8 grams. We’ll update the post to add that in.
Hi John, it says 8g in the recipe card! Enjoy 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I’ve done several variations of peanut stew before but the spice and ease of this is fabulous. I’ll add carrot and other veg to the pot next time, but it is 5 stars written. Thank you!
Thank you for your lovely comment, KayDubb! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
Hey, my biggest pan fits around 3 litres, should I be able to make this in there? I’m worried it will overflow, it is so much food 🙂
Hi John! It should fit but it will be pretty tight and you might have a bit of splashing! You might consider halving the recipe to err on the safe side.
I wasn’t sure if you were going to reply so I borrowed a 6 litre pot to make it, this will definitely be okay 😁 I still haven’t gotten around to making it yet, there are so so many of your recipes I’m planning on trying, but I only cook once or twice a week 😙
Great! We can’t wait for you to start trying more of the recipes, John. 🙂
Hi Nisha, got your instant pot cook book today. Can’t wait to get into it.
I have a question about this recipe, do I use the drained weight of the beans or with the liquid (I assume I drain the beans as usual before adding them to my pan)
Someone please reply as I am planning on cooking this for my birthday meal on New Year’s Day xx
Thanks in advance xx
Hi Dawn! You’ll drain and rinse the can of beans 🙂 Enjoy the stew and happy early birthday!
I made this (appropriately ethnic dish) for my west African drumming class holiday part last night, and it totally disappeared! Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe! Sent out the recipe link this morning! It’s a keeper!
Hey Martha! Wow, I can feel your enthusiasm about this recipe through the screen! Love it!
Great dish. Adults loved it, kids loved it.
That’s awesome to hear, Bryan! Thanks for sharing!
The recipe makes a LOT of food.
I doubled the kale (cos it comes in 200g bags near me) and that works well.
But it’s just so full of flavour.
Love it.
Hi Craig, it’s great to hear you had success with the recipe. Thanks for the review!
This was absolutely delicious! It was very straight forward to make and had just the right amount of heat in it. Perfect for a cold winter night. Thank you!
Even though I chopped the sweet potato finely, it was still al dente after 25 minutes of cooking.
Tomorrow when I reheat it, I will cook it for a little bit longer.
Otherwise it was really nice and comforting food for a sore throat.
Hi Vibeke, sorry to hear that! Maybe next time the chunks need to be smaller or the heat needs to be turned up on the stovetop?
But we’re happy to hear you enjoyed the stew otherwise 🙂
This turned out to be very tasty. I’m not even a good cook tbh. Most time was spent preparing the ingredients but it was worth every minute. Also, be aware, that this is a massive dish. It will cover us for 6 meals.
Will make this dish again in the next few weeks.
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Peter!
Your positive feedback is the best reward for our hard work. Thank you, Peter!
Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
I made this hearty and wholesome stew for dinner tonight and it was wonderful. Everyone in the family from my toddler to my grandparents enjoyed it. We are from the south and my grandparents have a traditionally southern palate but they loved it! I omitted jalapenos to make it toddler friendly but added chili garlic oil as a topping for my own bowl. I added yellow crookneck squash and it worked well. Very filling served with rice and I will certainly make it again!
We’re so happy that the stew turned out well for you, Sam. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for trying out the recipe!
I wasn’t sure about the combination of peanut butter and sweet potatoes, but I have loved every single one of your recipes that I made, so I figured it was worth a try. I’m so glad I did! This was so delicious! I followed the recipe exactly as written since we like spicy food. I completely blended the recipe prior to adding the kale and cilantro as I think this makes it easier to freeze. I will definitely be making this again! Thank you for another winner!
Thanks for putting your faith in the recipe, Nicole! It’s great to hear it paid off. 🙂
Delicious! Thank you very much! I cooked it with half the amount of ginger and no jalapeños. We don’t like spicy food. I love your recipes so much! Greetings from Hungary!
Hi Krisztina, Thank you so much for such a fantastic review! Appreciate you taking the time!
Delish!
Hi Dana, we’re thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Delicious and easy. We added two large carrots, one head of cauliflower, and 1 c butternut squash, and it was delicious! We have been absolutely LOVING your recipes. Keep them coming!
Hi Laura, thank you so much for your kind review!
Yummy yum year around!! Perfect hearty stew and spices spot on. 👍😃
We’re so happy that the Domoda turned out well for you, Debra. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for trying out the recipe!